Ian Scott Public Interest Internship Program - Osgoode Hall Law ...

In an effort to decrease the likelihood of this type of atrocious incidence from happening again
and to reiterate that there still remains no cure for AIDS, I also wrote an article on false cure
claims for ZARAN’s quarterly newsletter that was distributed throughout Zambia. False cure
claims are of particular concern as the right to one’s health is a fundamental human right.
Everyone has a right to attain the best possible state of health through the access to prevention
and treatment programs. When people living with HIV/AIDS fall victim to a false cure claims their
access to anti-retroviral drugs is compromised in the sense that they wilfully abandon taking their
medication as a result of their belief that they have been cured. This tragedy is exacerbated by
the fact that the some of these false cures contain allied substances that are harmful to the body
when ingested or injected. In this situation, people who have AIDS may be accelerating their
death as they already are living with a compromised immune system.
I am currently working on an opinion piece paper on behalf of ZARAN for the Human Rights
Committee of the National Constitution Conference as Zambia is currently amending its
Constitution. The paper will draw upon the international conventions that Zambia is a signatory
to, emphasis how stigma associated to AIDS is counterintuitive to the eradication of HIV, and
outline the pros and cons of inserting “health status” as a ground for discrimination in Article 23
of the Constitution of Zambia.
With such incredibly interesting and invaluable international experience gained from my summer
internship, I will be forever grateful for the generosity of the Ian Scott Public Interest Internship
Program. I highly recommend this program for any student that is independent, a self-starter,
and interested in spending their summer working in a social justice-related field.
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