Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Prevention Law

The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Prevention and the Rights and Duties of Infected Persons Law is a law that outlines the rules, rights, and responsibilities related to persons infected with AIDS in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The law outlines the required procedures for dealing with infected persons through a series of regulatory measures. The law was issued by Royal Decree and a decision of the Council of Ministers in 2018.

The AIDS Prevention Law aims to ensure the necessary health care, social care, and rehabilitation for infected persons and to ensure their right to continue education and work while preserving and stating the rights and duties of the infected persons and their contacts, clarifying their duties, and outlining the protections and responsibilities assigned to them by the law.

The law classifies AIDS as an infectious disease and uses the procedures and measures set out in the law and the regulations thereof to prevent it. It also ensures the right of infected persons to continue work and education and engage in their normal social activities without discrimination or exclusion.

The AIDS Prevention Law emphasizes the obligation of Health Authorities to provide healthcare, counseling, and psychological support for the infected persons, respect their rights, combat AIDS; explain its transmission methods, preventive measures, and treatment; raise awareness of AIDS; urge to avoid it; and protect the society therefrom.

The law strictly prohibits any health authority from refraining from providing the necessary medical care for any infected person due to their infection. Healthcare professionals, including those in fields like anesthesia, dental treatment, emergency care, and other medical procedures, may not reject the required services while adhering to the preventive precautions adopted by the National AIDS Program at the Ministry of Health.

The law prohibits any act or decline that constitutes discrimination against infected persons, including actions that demean their dignity or infringe upon their rights, such as the right to work, education, and healthcare. It also prohibits stigmatizing infected persons due to their condition.

The law emphasizes that the infected pregnant women may not be forced to have an abortion or deprived of the custody or care of their children due to the infection thereof, and required healthcare must be provided to them and their embryos.

The law warns that an infected person may not be prevented from enjoying the rights recognized by the laws or continuing their education, nor they may be dismissed from their jobs due to their disease unless it is established that they intentionally transfer the infection to others.

The AIDS Prevention Law defines the role of the National AIDS Program, which in coordination with other health authorities, may activate prevention, care, and rehabilitation procedures, identify diagnostic reference laboratories, confirm virus infection, and require health authorities to send suspected positive samples to the reference laboratories identified by the National Program.

The law mandates that health, education, and media authorities take procedures to raise health awareness of AIDS in society and clarify the rights and duties of the infected persons.

The AIDS Prevention Law specifies that all intentionally or accidentally infected persons are entitled to appropriate compensation from those who caused the infection. The competent authorities estimate the amount of compensation due to the infected person, and this does not exempt from criminal liability.

According to the law, residents with AIDS not claiming special rights, after their rights have been settled, must be immediately expelled to their countries or to any other country of their choice, and cases of the infected persons are considered a matter of urgency. In contrast, individuals wishing to enter the Kingdom are required to undergo this test to ensure they are free from the disease.

The law emphasizes the necessity of maintaining the confidentiality of information. All health authorities personnel and others must maintain the confidentiality of the information about the infected persons and such information may only be disclosed in accordance with the conditions described in the law. If one spouse has been infected, the law requires that he/she inform the other party, who will be summoned along with any contacts to conduct the necessary tests.

The AIDS Prevention law prohibited imposing AIDS test, and excluded in Article Nine cases including applicants to health, civil and military colleges and institutes, pre-marriage medical examinations, pregnant women, applicants to military positions, applicants to positions covered by the healthcare cadre, and any case the Minister considers that it is required to be tested in coordination with the Saudi Health Council.

The law specifies penalties for violations, with a fine not exceeding SAR50,000, in several cases, including: those who refuse to provide necessary medical care to individuals with AIDS due to their condition, those who deny an infected person their legally entitled rights, such as the right to continue their education or employment, those who unjustly terminate an infected person from their job due to their illness, those who impose mandatory AIDS testing (except for cases exempted by the law). The fine does not prevent the affected person from claiming compensation for the violation.

The AIDS Prevention Law imposes a fine not exceeding SAR100,000, or imprisonment for a maximum of five years, or both, on individuals who refuse to provide necessary healthcare to pregnant women and their embryos due to their infection, or who force them to have an abortion or deprive them of custody or care of their children because of their condition. The same penalties apply to those who disclose an infected person’s information, to the healthcare provider or the infected partner if they fail to inform the spouse of the infection, and to the infected person who does not follow the preventive guidelines set by healthcare authorities or deliberately transmits the infection to others. Additionally, penalties apply to anyone who commits acts or fails to act in a way that discriminates against infected individuals, demeans their dignity, infringes upon their rights, or exploits them because of their condition.

According to the law, the Ministry of Health and public health authorities refer violations arising from breaches of its provisions to the Public Prosecution for consideration in instituting legal proceedings before the competent court. The court may also initially consider any of the other violations prescribed in the Law and determine the penalty imposed for them.