1 Dec 2008

Britain is criticised for deporting HIV patients

The UK government is today, on World Aids Day, accused of double standards for permitting the deportation of people diagnosed in the UK with HIV to countries where they may not get the drugs they need to stay alive.

The UK has strongly supported the G8 pledge to get treatment to all people who need it in poor countries, and yet it is sending back people who have discovered they have HIV and been put on drugs while in the UK, to places where they have little hope of continuing their medication.

The African HIV Policy Network, which is attempting to change UK policy, has many examples of people who are struggling to get hold of life-saving medication. Its campaign is supported by Neil Gerrard, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on refugees and previously chaired the group on Aids.

"I think when you have got someone who has been put on treatment here and then they are removed back to a country where they can't get treatment, it is virtually a death sentence," he said.

The Guardian