March 1, 2008
This letter is to let all African people living in New Zealand about the
discrimination that is happening here in New Zealand in regard to the testing,
diagnosis and treatment in the area of enforced HIV illness. And the letter has
been sent to one of the prominent figure within the African community. We will
appreciate if you can pass on this letter to other African people within the
community.
I believe that the human and health rights of Africans in New Zealand are being
severely transgressed in the testing, diagnosis and treatment (especially when
enforced) of HIV disease. This discrimination is manifest in several forms.
Simply being Black African in New Zealand is seen as “high risk” compared to
being tested in African countries. This is an important consideration in
relation to interpretation of the tests (because the interpretation is
arbitrary). The staff deciding the test results are informed in their own 2000
handbook: “By mid 1999, 1,355 patients had been reported with HIV infection
since the beginning of the epidemic and 678 with AIDS. Currently
there are about 700 HIV infected people living in New Zealand of whom 107 have
AIDS. Homosexual males remain the biggest identifiable risk group (63% now) but
in the last 18 months infected heterosexual immigrants, particularly from
Africa, are the most rapidly increasing group. After falling for several years,
the number of newly reported HIV infected people rose in 1998, significantly
contributed to by this immigrant group.” I.e. it’s those Black Africans who are
increasing our rate of HIV disease, not our racist coercion in testing. Black
Africans are more than 200 times more likely to be “positive” on these tests.
Rules of privacy and confidentiality are not adhered to; the doctors reason that
hospital personnel have a right to know if a Black African has HIV so they don’t
“catch” the AIDS disease. This despite the fact that not one single health care
worker anywhere in the world has contracted AIDS through accidental exposure in
the 23 years since the ‘epidemic’ began. Black Africans and their children are
being coerced into these tests, where white Europeans are not. A Black African
presenting with any medical condition, however unrelated to any possible HIV
disease, to a New Zealand hospital suffers great pressure to get an HIV test.
MOH and Statistics NZ figures demonstrate that Black Africans have a higher prevalence of HIV in New Zealand than the reported rate in extremely high risk and frequently tested prisoners in South African prisons. The prison population comprises intravenous drug users and men who have sex with men without condoms. Given that these prisoners are all tested every 6 months, how can it be that clean-living, monogamous Africans in New Zealand are more likely to have HIV disease? There is something very wrong with this picture.
Black Africans are much more likely to have a false positive test result due
to exposure to TB, malaria, leprosy, inherited blood disorders like sickle cell
anaemia, malnutrition and many other factors. MOH statistics also demonstrate
that over 300 Black Africans in New Zealand at this time have HIV disease.Many
if not most of these likely represent false positives, but people are instructed
to take anti-HIV medicines that are extremely harmful (and more so to Black
people). In the case of Black African children, the parents are being ordered by
the courts to give
their children the anti-HIV medicine.
Almost every person taking these drugs experiences severe and life-threatening side effects. Most adults decide the treatment is worse than the disease and stop taking the drugs. Black African children do not have this right according to the doctors. Doctors are lying to the courts by stating that HIV-infected Africans pose a risk to the wider community if they refuse anti-HIV drugs; even the manufacturers drug prescribing sheets state that taking the drugs does not prevent transmission to others.
In any event, HIV appears to have extremely low transmissibility; a study in the US followed hundreds of couples where one partner was positive and the other negative for 10 years. Twenty five percent of the couples did not use condoms regularly, and 47 couples reported having unsafe sex, but not one single negative person became positive. It is certain that many Africans have died from taking the anti-HIV drugs. More than 20% of Black Americans have a genetic difference in the way their body processes the drugs, which can result in blood drug levels three times higher than they should be – a potentially lethal dose. In Black Africans this genetic difference is likely to be higher than 20%. When the African person dies from these drugs, the doctors write “AIDS” on the death certificate.
We feel these issues need to be raised publicly; Black Africans have a right
to know these facts. An article highlighting these concerns is in the process of
being written and will be published on the scoop.co.nz website, but it isn’t
enough. I am hoping that as a prominent African in NZ you can help bring to
light these terrible injustices.
We have been working with 2 excellent human rights lawyers on one individual
case, and the lawyers would be happy to instigate a class-action lawsuit on
behalf of all Black Africans who may have been harmed, or whose rights have been
infringed by the racist medical system in New Zealand.
Yours sincerely
Felix Mwashomah & Cathy van Miert
Tel: 09-5277257, or 09-5261954.