In Namibia, women who are diagnosed as HIV-positive are sometimes advised by doctors to undergo a sterilization procedure. Often the women do not understand what the procedure entails, in part due to the language barrier resulting from the 11 indigenous languages spoken around the country. Thus, three HIV-positive women are now suing the state after having allegedly been sterilized without their informed consent. The women are seeking 1 million Namibian dollars as compensation. The Legal Assistance Center, the rights group representing the women, claims to have documented 15 other cases of alleged HIV sterilization since 2008. Namibian women throughout the country are rallying behind the plaintiffs, having organized both a march and a sit-in protest at the hospitals in which the alleged sterilizations took place.

To learn more, visit the BBC News article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10202429.stm