WINDHOEK —31 May 2010-(allafrica.com)-BE it positive or negative, no one's HIV test result may be made known by anyone without their consent and anyone who breaches this could face legal action.

The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) says Namibians need to be reminded of their right to confidentiality in light of the National Testing Day that took place yesterday.

According to Mark Nonkes, the LAC's communication officer, the human rights watchdog organisation is investigating at least four cases at the moment of people whose HIV status was publicly revealed and their confidentiality breached.

Amon Ngaventene, a project co-ordinator at the LAC's AIDS Law Unit, said: "We continue to hear stories of people whose doctor or employer reveals their status. But simply revealing a person's HIV status can also have both legal and social consequences."

In a press statement, Ngaventene said one of the cases that the LAC is currently dealing with involves a woman whose HIV-positive status was revealed to her employer by a doctor. The woman was fired as a result of this.

The LAC is proceeding [with legal action] against the doctor for breaching his duty of confidentiality to a medical patient, and against the employer for violating the anti-discrimination provision of the labour Act."

According to the lawyer, "these injustices strike at the heart of human dignity because they involve the ability to procreate and the ability to support oneself and make a living.

By pursuing litigation against employers and health care workers when they violate privacy, dignity, and workplace rights, the LAC hopes to raise public awareness surrounding HIV-AIDS."

Nonkes told The Namibian yesterday afternoon that "this is definitely an area of concern.”

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