Nigerian sues over HIV sacking

Aids awareness is low in much of West Africa

By Mannir Dan-Ali in Lagos

In the first case of its kind in Nigeria, a nurse has gone to court challenging her dismissal by her former employers on the ground that she tested positive for HIV, the virus which causes Aids.

The nurse, Mrs Georgina Ahamefule, is claiming about $10,000 in damages from the private clinic in Lagos where she worked until 1995.

The unfair termination of my employment by the Imperial Medical Centre on the grounds of being HIV positive has caused me untold hardship

Georgina Ahamefule

Mrs Ahamefule claimed that her problem began in 1995 when she sought medical attention for a boil which she found developing on her skin.

After a series of tests on her and her husband in the clinic where she worked, they were both referred to a specialist hospital where their blood samples were taken for tests which she later found to be for HIV.

She was dismissed from her job after she tested HIV positive.

Stigma

In her submission to the Lagos High Court, Mrs Ahamefule says: "The unfair termination of my employment by the Imperial Medical Centre on the grounds of being HIV positive has caused me untold hardship, thereby crippling my ability to provide for the upkeep of myself and my family members."

It took Fela Kuti's death to get people talking openly about Aids

Although there are fears about the rapid spread of Aids in Nigeria, there is still a clear lack of knowledge about the disease.

It is only recently that there is more public discussion about the disease - especially since the death in 1998 of the popular Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who family members say died of Aids.

There is still, however, a heavy stigma attached to those who test positive for the virus, which many associate with sexual promiscuity.

In what may be a sign of the lack of public awareness about the disease, the judge in the case filed by Mrs Ahamefule has ruled that she will only be allowed to go to the court to give evidence after a medical expert satisfies the court that her presence will not endanger the lives of other people in the court room.

The dismissed nurse has now taken her case to an appeal court challenging this decision of the lower court. No date has been fixed for the hearing of the appeal in the case.