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About 200 people living with HIV and AIDS marched on the Mozambican parliament in Maputo on Tuesday to demand legislation to defend the rights of infected workers, PANA reported. In a message addressed to assembly chairman Eduardo Mulembue, the demonstrators warned of "discrimination, segregation and general stigmatisation suffered by workers living with HIV/AIDS".
They claimed that the sacking of HIV-positive workers was on the increase and that some companies, which they did not name, had effectively made testing negative for HIV a criteria for employment. The spread of AIDS was "a national emergency", they said, and demanded that the assembly pass appropriate laws at its next sitting, scheduled to begin in October.
Aurelio Zilhao, the assembly's social affairs commission chairman told the marchers they could count on the commission's support. He was quoted as saying that the commission was working on draft legislation, and he hoped it would come before the full assembly in October.
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