Participants and facilitators at the end of the workshop. Picture by KELIN/Elise Meyer
“The training has been an eye opener. There were incidences where I violated the right to privacy and confidentiality of my patients without knowing it. As a result of the training, now I know that when a doctor asks me to test a client without their consent it is illegal.’’ This was the reflection of a participant at the close of the training of health care workers on the right to privacy and confidentiality for Persons Living with HIV.
The training came to an end on 29 July, 2014 with participants having learnt about the provisions on confidentiality. The participants were happy to know that they can take part in the fight against HIV by respecting their patients’ right to privacy and confidentiality, among other human rights.
The training not only benefited the participants but also the trainers. Participants took the trainers through some of the challenges they experience as they try to comply with the legal and policy provisions on privacy and confidentiality.
- One of the challenges cited was policies being developed that are contradictory to existing legal documents, such as the HIV & AIDS Prevention and Control Act 2006: this sometimes creates confusion over what should be done.
- Another challenge is in relation to the infrastructure. For instance, group counseling is usually done instead of private sessions due to lack of and or inadequate amenities. The number of patients also overwhelms the staff, which may lead to some violation of rights..
The training ended with the health care workers committing to disseminate the knowledge they acquired during the training, upholding the rights of PLHIV seeking health services and forwarding cases of human rights violations to KELIN and the other constitutionally mandated bodies. The full workshop report will be available on the website in two weeks.
