Congratulations to Dr. Babafemi Odunsi, an LL.M. graduate of our International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program who now teaches law at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. We thank him for sending the following abstract of his recently published article. The author can be reached at: femiodunsi 2002 at yahoo*com.
ROMANCING THE FOE: THE HIV EPIDEMIC AND
THE CASE FOR A PRAGMATIC STANCE ON
PROSTITUTION AND ILLICIT DRUG USE IN NIGERIA
By Babafemi Odunsi
Malawi Law Journal 4.2 (2010): 215-232.
This article examines the interplay between prostitution, injection drug use and the spread of HIV/Aids in Nigeria. It also considers how Nigerian criminal law and the unfriendly social attitude to prostitution and illicit drug use vitiate the control of HIV/Aids. The article stresses the need for Nigerian criminal law to maintain a ‘soft stance’ on sex workers and drug users in order to accommodate their needs and vulnerabilities relating to HIV/AIDS. It underscores the need to put the overall public health interest in effectively controlling the spread of HIV over and above the social aversion to prostitution and illicit drug use – an aversion which Nigerian criminal law reflects and reinforces.
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