THE EDITOR, Sir:
I RECENTLY heard a call for legislative framework to protect those living with the HIV/AIDS virus. But how about legislation to protect the real victims of the disease?
These 'real victims' include not only children but also unsuspecting spouses - most times women - who continue to engage in sexual intercourse with a partner who knows or ought to know that he or she is a carrier of the disease. It is a wicked act to knowingly pass on the disease to an unsuspecting person especially to a child.
To assist with this problem we therefore ought to consider passing legislation which will make it an offence for any person who knows or ought to know that he is the carrier of the disease to engage in sexual intercourse without first having informed his or her partner. And since this is a lifestyle disease why aren't we insisting that as a society we move from promiscuity to faithfulness?
I am associated with a group of persons who are now professionals who abstained from pre-marital sex and who have remained faithful to their husbands/wives over the years. That is because we all ascribed to a common code of ethics. It is therefore not an impossible thing to do.
ATTACK THE REAL CAUSE
Since AIDS is more and more taking on the face of a black woman, it would seem appropriate for the Prime Minister to personally take up the challenge of rallying young people to abstinence and of promoting faithfulness to one partner. She should also challenge members of her Cabinet to set an example in this area.
Let us attack the real cause of the disease which is promiscuity and if change begins from the top it has a better chance of filtering down.
I am, etc.,
SHIRLEY RICHARDS
Attorney-at-Law
Kingston 10
