Malawi plans laws against phony AIDS cures

BLANTYRE, Malawi Mary Shaba, a senior government aide, said Tuesday that the new legislation, to be introduced later this year, will also target religious leaders who persuade people to stop taking anti-AIDS medicines and instead to pray.

Shaba said the law would "regulate and protect people from healers who prescribe sex with albinos, the disabled or virgins as a cure for HIV and AIDS."

The poor southern African nation has a 14 percent HIV prevalence rate among adults, making it one of the world's hardest hit nations. The disease has cut life expectancy to 36 years, according to the United Nations.

 

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