In this issue

The long arm of law is now encroaching on the lives of many HIV-positive people. Criminalisation of HIV transmission has now led to doctors and healthcare workers being advised that they may break confidentiality if they think you are putting someone at risk of HIV infection.

However, the advice says that they should first tell you that they are planning on doing this, and that they should never go to the police to make a complaint on behalf of someone else.

Rather than be afraid of the law, though, knowing what doctors (and the police) can and can't do can be empowering.

At a recent seminar on HIV and the law, it has become clear that criminalisation has galvanised many people into action, and on page 18 Dr Matthew Weait suggests how even the most law-abiding HIV-positive individual can become an activist and positively affect change.

It's also rather ironic that, according to some influential US experts, HIV transmission appears to be driven mostly by people unaware of their HIV status. Criminalisation is hardly an incentive to take an HIV test, though, is it?