A Ugandan court on Monday
sentenced a nurse to three years in jail after finding her guilty of
criminal negligence for allegedly trying to infect her patient with HIV.
The conviction came despite the
work of international activist groups that had rallied in support of
Rosemary Namubiru, who is 64 and HIV positive.
Many Ugandans, however, see her case as a shocking example of malice or negligence by a trusted medical worker.
Namubiru maintained her
innocence throughout the trial, saying there was no malice involved when
she accidentally pricked herself one day in January and then used the
same contaminated needle to give a baby an injection. When the child’s
mother realized the needle had not been changed, she raised an alarm and
Namubiru was immediately arrested. She was later denied bail in a
controversial decision by a magistrate who ruled that she posed a danger
to the public.
Prosecutors insisted a crime had
been committed, but international activist groups said Namubiru was the
victim of stigma and discrimination because of her HIV status and that
her trial was unwarranted. Namubiru should have faced the disciplinary
hearing by a professional body such as the local nurses’ association,
not a criminal trial, said the Global Access Project, a New York-based
advocacy group.
“The deeply flawed ruling shows
that stigma and discrimination against people with HIV is alive and well
in Uganda,” Asia Russell, the group’s director of international policy,
said on Monday. “Because of her HIV status, Rosemary’s trial was
plagued from the beginning with bias. Rosemary never had the presumption
of innocence the Constitution guarantees.”
Namubiru’s arrest was widely
covered in the Ugandan press, with some dubbing her the “killer nurse,” a
description that some activists said violated her right to a fair
trial.
Although the nurse was charged
under a colonial-era law against negligence that spreads a deadly
disease, Ugandan lawmakers have since passed a law specifically
criminalizing the intentional transmission of HIV as part of the
government’s efforts to stem the growing rate of HIV in this East
African country. That measure also has been criticized by groups that
say such a law will be difficult to enforce and may also be used to
violate the rights of people living with HIV.
According to the most recent
survey by Uganda’s Ministry of Health, 7.3 percent of the Ugandan
population has HIV, up from about 6 percent a decade ago.
At least 60 countries
criminalize the transmission of HIV or the failure to disclose one’s HIV
status to sex partners, according to AIDS-Free World, a New York-based
advocacy group that opposes the criminalization of HIV transmission.
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