The Botswana government has come under attack from human rights activists following reports that it intends to embark on a project to deliver anti-retroviral (ARV) medication refills at doorsteps of stable patients, APA can reveal here Wednesday.
The move has received sharp criticism from the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) which believes there are a plethora of human rights violations this strategy would cause, one of them is stigma and discrimination.
Another is the fact that it contributes to forced disclosure which violates people’s right to privacy, and dignity.
The strategy also puts clients at risk of gender based violence, the organisation said.
BONELA argued that there should have been engagement with communities on more efficient ways to reduce congestion and improve accessibility to health services rather than the top-down approach which would in the process create a negative domino effect.
BONELA is advocating for a multi-month dispensing initiative, instead of taking pre-packaged ARV medications to patients’ home or work place.
KO/jn/APA