Please file this under-horrid short term solution plagued with serious ethical questions while not creating long-term change. It is unfortunate that this is considered a viable solution for the increase in rates of HIV infection in the state of Papua.
Indonesia's Papua province is set to pass a bylaw that requires some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips in a bid to prevent them infecting others, a lawmaker said on Saturday.Under the bylaw, which has caused uproar among human rights activists, patients who had shown "actively sexual behavior" could be implanted with a microchip to monitor their activity, lawmaker John Manangsang said.
"It's a simple technology. A signal from the microchip will track their movements and this will be received by monitoring authorities," Manangsang said.
If a patient with HIV/AIDS was found to have infected a healthy person, there would be a penalty, he said without elaborating.
Talk about big brother. What I don't see is how is this preventative (the only-ONLY-effective solution to stop the spread of HIV), if the purpose is merely to punish people after they have infected someone. Are they planning on monitoring these people at all times? That is enough resources surely to put into safe sex education, creating a healthier culture around sex, while having all types of support programs for "high-risk" populations.
Please, someone, help me here. This seems really fucked up to me.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Indonesia's Papua plans to implant microchip in those with AIDS.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/10636
You know how conservative culture loves a scarlet letter.
The only way this would be preventative would be if a prospective sexual partner had the right kind of scanner with him/her. Otherwise, it's just a punitive measure and one that has no beneficial impact on curbing the disease.
How frigging dehumanizing! My dog has a microchip in her so we can find her if she runs out of our yard or something. I love her, but she's a dog for godsake! Implanting these things in people to supposedly prevent the spread of AIDS...uh yeah I don't think so.
>'or' should be 'our'
Whoops.
This *Is* really fucked up, on a number of levels:
Indonesia's Papua province is set to pass a bylaw that requires some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips in a bid to prevent them infecting others, a lawmaker said on Saturday.
How is it going to prevent them from infecting others? It's not like the chip is going to provide an invisible forcefield that prevents any fluid contact between the chipped person and another.
If a patient with HIV/AIDS was found to have infected a healthy person, there would be a penalty, he said without elaborating.
Also: Patronising plus. If a person is deliberately and wilfully infecting someone who is unaware of their HIV status, or someone is pressured into unsafe sex, that's one thing. Two adults making a decision to accept the consequences of their actions is something else. Would this mean a partnership where one member is HIV + would no longer be able to have any kind of contact in case they infect their partner? What about instances where the transmission was not deliberate or intentioned, such as an accident victim bleeding on someone administering aid?
Health experts say the disease has been spreading rapidly from prostitutes to housewives in the past years.
Dirty whores. Dirty, naughty whores, sneaking into people's homes and giving housewives TEH AIDS.
Unless the lesbian sex trade in Papua is live and well, or there is a disproportionately large number of male sex workers in the province, I think someone is missing from this picture. Anyone care to guess who? Im aware the intent is probably to indicate the virus is affecting a wide swathe of the community, but this can be done without removing the agent of this infection from the picture.
High rates of promiscuity, rituals in some Papuan tribes where partner swapping takes place, poor education about AIDS and lack of condoms are among factors that cause the spread of the disease there.
Promiscuity doesnt lead to infection. Partner swapping doesnt lead to infection. The last two? Spot on. THAT's why infection spreads.
So, you know, instead of addressing the issues that are obviously recognised as being the major factors in HIV spread (oh, really, poor education and lack of condoms lead to infection? Who'da thunk it), they're going to chip those already infected, like they're a pack of animals to track and cull.
If their aim is really to stop seropositive people from infecting others, why not address the education and condom availability issue? Teach people that they need to wrap it, teach them why and how to do it, and then make the bloody things available for them to use.
Sorry for the rant, I find this apalling.
Is anyone aware that the HIV test is very inaccurate? There are 70 conditions OTHER than HIV that can cause a positive result, such as malaria, TB, pregnancy, etc. Also, AIDS drugs are extremely toxic and can kill.
Please check out:
http://whatifeverything.com/whatif/index.html
http://www.aliveandwell.org/
Yes, I agree the human rights implications are staggering. You have to ask yourself, why is this disease treated so differently, why not TB? Why in 2008 are we so blind to questioning the status quo? It's like a witch hunt! (For something they don't even have).
Have you done your homework?
Have you used proper sources?
Just using sources that aid your side of the story eh?
I find it very interesting that Indonesia is trying this in an area with a high proportion of non-Javanese people, and in an area that has been agitating for independence from Indonesia. Not that those microchips would be used to track people for any other reason, would they?
Yes, I agree, they just won't let go of the Papuan people even though they were never supposed to be part of Indonesia.
Wouldn't this just make it less likely that people who fear they're infected would actually go and get a test? I mean, it's not like EVERY person with HIV/AIDS has been diagnosed. All they're doing is "tagging" people who HAVE been diagnosed; unless they're going to suddenly start doing mandatory testing (double scary) people are just going to stop getting tested, and treated, and....