ISSN Print: 2151-805X
ISSN Online: 2151-8068
HIV and AIDS in India: Legal and Ethical Implications
ABSTRACT
Acquired immunonodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has reached pandemic proportions globally. India has 2.31 million people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS, and the global estimate is 33 million. Growing disease burden presents varied ethical, moral, and legal dilemmas to the health care providers. Increasing awareness among the afflicted population brings up issues that define a health care provider's duties and rights. The health care provider has to deal with questions of confidentiality, information sharing about the HIV status of the subject with other health care professionals and the spouse or partner, maintenance of medical records, patient consent for testing in doubtful clinical cases, and treatment-referral related issues. The governing bodies in the Indian sub-continent, including the Indian judicial system, Indian Medical Council, Drug Controller General of India, the Ministry of Health, and National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), work along with inputs from voluntary/independent organizations to frame legislation pertaining to these concerns. This article aims to discuss the moral, ethical, and legal issues relating to HIV/AIDS from a health care provider's perspective, in the unique socio-medical setting in India.