2,000 with HIV in Chile were not notified

From: Becca Smith

The Washington Post reported on November 13th that nearly 2,000 people were carrying HIV and the health system did not inform the patients that they were infected. Two activist groups, Asosida and Vivo Positivo are quoted as saying that this is "the worst health crisis that the country has been through in the last several years" and that "the negligence had been a flagrant violation of human rights and of the right of life."

María Soledad Barría had been forced to resign several weeks prior after the public realized that a hosptial in Iquique had not notified patients that they were carrying the disease and two people died from AIDS. The new health minister, Álvaro Erazo, said that 'there was no evidence' that anyone made attempts to notify the patients. Erazo explained that this happened because of communication problems between the National AIDS Commission and the Health Ministry. He also said that every attempt would be made to find all those affected with the disease to inform them. Unfortunately, due to the nature of STDs, Cecilia Sepúlveda, the dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Chile, estimated "that about 40,000 people in Chile do not know that they are infected" with the disease.