Dakar declaration.

Abstract

The participants of the African Inter-Country consultation on Ethics, Law, and HIV set forth the following principles by which all action taken in response to the HIV epidemic should be guided: 1) responsibility (to be recognized and actively exercised); 2) engagement (we are all affected by the epidemic and should respond accordingly); 3) partnership and consensus-building; 4) empowerment (of every person, but especially of women, the poor, the uneducated, and children); 5) nondiscrimination (towards those affected), 6) confidentiality and privacy, 7) adaptation (to achieve an effective response to the epidemic), 8) sensitivity in language, 9) ethics in research, and 10) prohibition on mandatory HIV testing.