GABORONE, Botswana, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A court of appeals in Botswana upheld a ruling Thursday that stipulate foreign prisoners should receive free medical treatment for HIV and AIDS.
Prior to the ruling, foreign inmates were forced to pay for their medication, unlike native inmates. A case on the matter was opened by two HIV-positive prisoners challenging the policy alongside figures from the United Nations (UN) which estimate that approximately 25 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are HIV-positive in the landlocked African country.
Foreign inmates composed more than 14 percent of Botswana's prison population in 2013.
Although a court ruled in favor of the two prisoners in 2014, the state appealed the decision until Thursday's ruling.
The court is demanding that free treatment for foreign prisoners begin immediately.
Annabel Raw, a lawyer from the Southern Africa Litigation Center (SALC) told Voice of America that the ruling has "affirmed Botswana's legal duty of care over persons in detention, no matter what their origin."
The country rolled out an aggressive testing and treatment program for the general population in 2002.
However, individuals who immigrate into Africa are particularly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases because of the widespread discrimination in seeking supposedly complimentary treatment.
South Africa, for example, said in 2014 that patients who cannot prove their legal residence in the country will have to pay in full for treatment at government hospitals.
