Human rights and human wrongs

Sorry, it's been a while since I wrote! The Telkomsel Internet connection in Kupang was really frustrating, on-off-on again. Almost impossible to do useful work.

The training there went quite well. The general level of participants was not very high, almost at Papua level. So we had to do a lot of extra explaining, which added at least an hour to each day's schedule. So I was quite tired by the time I returned.

As usual the session on Human Rights and HIV triggered a number of stories, many of them quite awful. The pregnant young lady in Atambua who was put under pressure to have a Caesarian, though luckily another doctor supported her choice of natural birth. But then, while nursing her one-day old, the local TV station cameraman barged in and filmed her. The clip was aired on the local news, and when she was discharged with new-born, she found herself evicted from her lodgings, Not so bad as these things go, but a reminder that although in general the situation may be improving (less hospitals are burning mattresses from beds in which PLHIV die), many of our friends still face daunting situations.

Way back when (well, in 1995), a then rising lawyer, Todung Mulia Lubis, offered to take any case of discrimination against PLHIV to court, gratis. He said he wanted to generate some precedents. Although he is now well-known, I'm pretty sure the offer still stands. But in the 13 years since then, no one has taken him up on this offer. I'm sure the main reason is that they are scared taking a case to court will only make their own situation worse. But I think partly it's because there's a feeling, reasonable in my view, that many such cases can be better addressed by advocacy. Most (though by no means all) of the cases of discrimination in the health service stem from lack of knowledge or understanding, which feeds fear. We can't take people to court for not knowing (although perhaps we should be able to sue the managers and decision makers who have neglected the training and information dissemination). Advocacy and discussion, together with experience, can usually solve the problem. Often it's only the first cases in a hospital which generate problems; once treating PLHIV becomes 'normal', the problems usually disappear.

Off to Perth tonight for the ASHM Conference (well, a few days holiday in Margaret Rive first with Tim Mackay). Hope the Internet connection is better there than in Kupang!

Babé