Johannesburg — SA HAS started considering HIV-positive soldiers for deployment on external missions, a move that poses the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) with problems of compensation when the soldier dies of illness.

The SANDF began deploying HIV-positive soldiers on external missions, after losing a high court application argued by the AIDS Law Project on behalf of healthy but HIV-positive soldiers who had been overlooked for external deployment due to their status.

The rate of HIV infection in the SANDF is a closely guarded secret, but is believed to be higher than in the general population.

R-Adm Philip Schoultz, chief director of operations at the SANDF's Joint Operations Division (responsible for deployments), said the United Nations (UN) did not pay compensation in the event of a soldier dying from a pre-existing condition like HIV, diabetes or hypertension. This resulted in a loss of about 50 000 for the deceased's family.

"Essentially, if a person who is HIV-positive (is deployed) and then dies ... they will not pay out," R-Adm Schoultz said.

HIV increased the chances of soldiers dying from illness, and HIV-positive soldiers deployed internally, such as for borderline duties, often battled to cope.

"People that were HIV-positive that you put into Lesotho in the winter months, there was a higher incidence of deaths and we picked it up very quickly," he said.

A spokesperson at the UN's department of peacekeeping operations in New York, Anayansi Lopez, yesterday confirmed that compensation for death in the line of duty was 50 000. But this was withheld where death, injury or illness was caused by the individual's own wilful misconduct or wilful negligence.

Ms Lopez said the UN did not require that individuals at any time be tested for HIV in relation to deployment as peacekeepers.

However, it recognised that some countries that contributed peacekeeping troops had a mandatory testing policy and did not deploy HIV-positive personnel, she said.

"The sole medical criterion for the deployment and retention of a peacekeeper is fitness to perform peacekeeping duties during the term of deployment."

But the medical examination must exclude those individuals showing signs of active disease, including clinical signs of immunodeficiency, such as AIDS.