In this feature article, Ann Hilton Fisher, Catherine Hanssens and David I. Schulman (from the ABA) analyze the new guidelines on HIV testing from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and find them wanting. The authors argue that the CDC’s recommendation to do away with specific written informed consent for HIV tests … Read more
In this feature article, Kora DeBeck, Evan Wood, Julio Montaner and Thomas Kerr report on a study that examined expenditures and activities related to the Drug Strategy as renewed in 2003. The article reviews the effectiveness of the Strategy in light of current scientific evidence pertaining to the reduction of drug-related harm. The authors find … Read more
More than two years since Canada enacted the Jean Chrétien Pledge to Africa, no generic medication produced under compulsory license has yet been exported from Canada. In this feature article, Richard Elliott describes attempts by two Canadian generic pharmaceutical companies to navigate the complicated and unwieldy processes established under the Act, and, noting the government’s … Read more
In May 2004, at the urging of civil society advocates, Canada became the first country to enact detailed legislation implementing the August 2003 decision of the World Trade Organization allowing compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical patents in a WTO Member for the purpose of exporting lower-cost generic products to countries lacking sufficient capacity to manufacture their … Read more
Призывы к рутинному обследованию на ВИЧ (рутинному тестированию на ВИЧ) по инициативе медработников все более настойчивы. В этой статье Джоан Чете и Ричард Эллиот обсуждают правозащитные и этические вопросы, возникающие в связи с подходом «рутинного обследования». Некоторые соображения, высказанные в статье, возникли в результате международной экспертной встречи по обследованию на ВИЧ и правам человека, проведенной … Read more
The calls for provider-initiated routine HIV testing are growing more intense. In this article, Joanne Csete and Richard Elliott discuss the human rights and ethical issues raised by the routine testing approach. Some points in this paper are inspired by an international expert meeting on HIV testing and human rights convened by the Center for … Read more
In December 2005, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network released Sex, work, rights: reforming Canadian criminal laws on prostitution. The report examines the ways in which the prostitution-related provisions of the Criminal Code, and their enforcement, have criminalized many aspects of sex workers’ lives and have promoted their social marginalization. The Legal Network calls for the … Read more
This article summarizes the body of evidence generated via the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS), discusses briefly the related human rights implications, and concludes with recommendations for action. Related Publications HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review 10(3) December 2005
The global HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the role of unsafe drug injection as one of its principal drivers, have added to the list of harms associated with unsafe drug use. HIV/AIDS has highlighted ways in which prohibitionist drug policy causes or contributes to such harms and focused attention on the international regime of illicit drug control. … Read more
This article examines the human rights and public health implications of injection drug use in prisons with a specific focus on HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) viruses. The authors argue that prisoners who inject drugs have a right to access harm reduction measures — those that reduce the harmful consequences of drug use without necessarily … Read more