July 25, 2007
Please! Don’t Give John Howard Any New Ideas!
Papua mulls microchipping AIDS patients
Parliamentarians in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua say they are considering a controversial bylaw to “tag” people infected with AIDS with microchips so they can better monitor their behavior and sexual activities.
. . .
Indonesia has one of Asia’s fastest-growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by injecting drug users and prostitution.
Health authorities have warned that a failure to take prompt action in areas like Papua, where infections are 15 times the national average, could result in 1 million people infected with HIV within a few years.
Parliamentarians are likely to consider public opinion before discussing the draft bylaw with the local government and seeking to enact it. The proposal has already drawn protests from AIDS activists and health workers.
Utterly barbaric.
Filed under: Australia/NZ, HIV/AIDS
