Protection of Human Rights and Barriers for People with HIV/AIDS in Colombia: An Analysis of the Legal Framework

People living with HIV/AIDS not only suffer in terms of physical and/or psychological health, but also frequently experience violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Although there are international treaties and a regulatory framework that legally protects people with HIV/AIDS, it is essential to determine the effectiveness of the regulatory framework in Colombia. Therefore, our main goal was to examine the legislation on HIV/AIDS in Colombia with the purpose of understanding the decrees and laws, and describing the main obstacles and barriers that people with HIV/AIDS encounter. For this purpose, we employed the method of legal interpretation and reviewed the legal regulations on HIV/AIDS, as well as the judgments of guardianship of the Constitutional Court. It is verified that there is a specific regulation on HIV/AIDS, specifically decree 559 of 19,991, decree 1543 of 1997, Law 599 of 2000, Law 972 of 2005, and Law 1220 of 2008. Although at the legislative level Colombia shows an evolution in the norm, patients with HIV/AIDS continue to be victims of human rights violations. As a result, and through the analysis of tutela judgments, it was found that the Constitutional Court recognized the violation of rights and ordered the necessary measures to be taken to guarantee the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the defendants

Protection of human rights and barriers for people with HIV/AIDS in colombia: an analysis of the legal framework

People living with HIV/AIDS not only suffer in terms of physical and/or psychological health, but also frequently experience violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Although there are international treaties and a regulatory framework that legally protects people with HIV/AIDS, it is essential to determine the effectiveness of the regulatory framework in Colombia. Therefore, our main goal was to examine the legislation on HIV/AIDS in Colombia with the purpose of understanding the decrees and laws, and describing the main obstacles and barriers that people with HIV/AIDS encounter. For this purpose, we employed the method of legal interpretation and reviewed the legal regulations on HIV/AIDS, as well as the judgments of guardianship of the Constitutional Court. It is verified that there is a specific regulation on HIV/AIDS, specifically decree 559 of 19,991, decree 1543 of 1997, Law 599 of 2000, Law 972 of 2005, and Law 1220 of 2008. Although at the legislative level Colombia shows an evolution in the norm, patients with HIV/AIDS continue to be victims of human rights violations. As a result, and through the analysis of tutela judgments, it was found that the Constitutional Court recognized the violation of rights and ordered the necessary measures to be taken to guarantee the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the defendants

Sexual abuse vs. sexual freedom? A legal Approach to the Age of Sexual Consent in Adolescents in Spanish-Speaking Countries

Child and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) is an international public health problem. Despite the importance of CSA, there is no consensus definition, and the lack of consensus is related to difficulties in conducting prevalence studies as well as research in other areas. To establish a consensual definition, legal aspects such as the age of sexual consent and the difference in age or power between victim and aggressor as well as aspects related to sexual freedom and sexual indemnity must be considered. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to analyze the age of sexual consent in the legal systems of Spanish-speaking countries and to examine whether the Romeo and Juliet clause is established. To achieve the proposed aims, we employed the legal interpretation method, and we analyzed the current Criminal Codes of the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. From the results, it is found that the age of sexual consent varies between countries, establishing valid sexual consent between 13 and 18 years. In addition, only six countries have the Romeo and Juliet clause that protects sexual freedom in adolescents. Finally, we discussed the lack of consensus on the age of sexual consent and the limitations presented by the Romeo and Juliet clause

Validation of the Attitude Scale to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Old Age in a Colombian Sample

The Attitude Scale to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Old Age (EAFV-LGBT) evaluates attitudes towards LGBT older adults. The main goal of this research was to adapt and examine the psychometric properties in a Spanish-speaking sample. The sample consisted of 521 Colombian adults (36.3% men and 63.7% women) with a mean age equal to 27.39 (SD = 9.27). Participants completed a Socio-Demographic and Sexual History Questionnaire, the Hispanic translations of the EAFV-LGBT, the Subtle and Manifest Prejudice Scale towards Homosexuals, and the Big Five Personality Trait Short Questionnaire. The results showed that the Colombian EAFV-LGBT has good psychometric properties. The structure of the scale was unidimensional, and the internal consistency reliability was also adequate. Likewise, the convergent validity of the scale was verified by correlating it with another measure that evaluates explicit and implicit homophobia. In addition, it was found that there was a relationship between personality traits and attitudes towards LGBT adults. Specifically, participants with lower openness, extraversion, and agreeableness reported more negative attitudes toward older LGBT people

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Delayed colorectal cancer care during covid-19 pandemic (decor-19). Global perspective from an international survey

Background The widespread nature of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been unprecedented. We sought to analyze its global impact with a survey on colorectal cancer (CRC) care during the pandemic. Methods The impact of COVID-19 on preoperative assessment, elective surgery, and postoperative management of CRC patients was explored by a 35-item survey, which was distributed worldwide to members of surgical societies with an interest in CRC care. Respondents were divided into two comparator groups: 1) ‘delay’ group: CRC care affected by the pandemic; 2) ‘no delay’ group: unaltered CRC practice. Results A total of 1,051 respondents from 84 countries completed the survey. No substantial differences in demographics were found between the ‘delay’ (745, 70.9%) and ‘no delay’ (306, 29.1%) groups. Suspension of multidisciplinary team meetings, staff members quarantined or relocated to COVID-19 units, units fully dedicated to COVID-19 care, personal protective equipment not readily available were factors significantly associated to delays in endoscopy, radiology, surgery, histopathology and prolonged chemoradiation therapy-to-surgery intervals. In the ‘delay’ group, 48.9% of respondents reported a change in the initial surgical plan and 26.3% reported a shift from elective to urgent operations. Recovery of CRC care was associated with the status of the outbreak. Practicing in COVID-free units, no change in operative slots and staff members not relocated to COVID-19 units were statistically associated with unaltered CRC care in the ‘no delay’ group, while the geographical distribution was not. Conclusions Global changes in diagnostic and therapeutic CRC practices were evident. Changes were associated with differences in health-care delivery systems, hospital’s preparedness, resources availability, and local COVID-19 prevalence rather than geographical factors. Strategic planning is required to optimize CRC care

The risk of COVID-19 death is much greater and age dependent with type I IFN autoantibodies

International audienceSignificance There is growing evidence that preexisting autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) are strong determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia. It is important to estimate their quantitative impact on COVID-19 mortality upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, by age and sex, as both the prevalence of these autoantibodies and the risk of COVID-19 death increase with age and are higher in men. Using an unvaccinated sample of 1,261 deceased patients and 34,159 individuals from the general population, we found that autoantibodies against type I IFNs strongly increased the SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rate at all ages, in both men and women. Autoantibodies against type I IFNs are strong and common predictors of life-threatening COVID-19. Testing for these autoantibodies should be considered in the general population

The risk of COVID-19 death is much greater and age dependent with type I IFN autoantibodies

International audienceSignificance There is growing evidence that preexisting autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (IFNs) are strong determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia. It is important to estimate their quantitative impact on COVID-19 mortality upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, by age and sex, as both the prevalence of these autoantibodies and the risk of COVID-19 death increase with age and are higher in men. Using an unvaccinated sample of 1,261 deceased patients and 34,159 individuals from the general population, we found that autoantibodies against type I IFNs strongly increased the SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rate at all ages, in both men and women. Autoantibodies against type I IFNs are strong and common predictors of life-threatening COVID-19. Testing for these autoantibodies should be considered in the general population