The Government should stop deporting HIV positive asylum seekers to countries where treatment is not readily available, two prominent charities have urged.
The National AIDS Trust and the African HIV Policy Network made their call for action on 10 December, which is international human rights day. They said that UK policy needed to be changed because of the damaging effects of withdrawing a person’s treatment.
“It increases the body’s vulnerability to opportunistic infection and will result in drastically shortened life expectancy,” said Titise Kode of the AHPN, an alliance of African community-based organisations who want fairer policies for people living with HIV and AIDS in the UK.
He said that the current policy could even be adding to the burden on the National Health Service, adding: “Those awaiting removal may go underground and fail to keep appointments resulting in an increase in the risk of opportunistic infection, the need for emergency treatment and the risk of increased onward transmission.”
The UK Government, he said, had shown great leadership on the world stage by signing up to the G8’s pledge of universal access to HIV treatment for all those who need it by 2010, but now needed to show the same leadership at home.
Deborah Jack, chief executive of NAT, said: “The UK government needs to urgently consider how in the removal process it is failing to ensure people receive uninterrupted HIV treatment and appropriate ongoing support, in the UK and in their destination country.
“By deporting people living with HIV without ensuring their treatment can continue the Government is ignoring people’s human right to health and ultimately putting lives at risk.”