Stigma Still a Major Roadblock for AIDS Fight in Africa

Rwandan children orphaned by AIDS in Muhanga village. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPSBy Julia HotzWASHINGTON, Aug 9 2014 (IPS) Though West Africa’s massive Ebola outbreak may be dominating the spotlight within the global health community, HIV/AIDS remains an enormous issue for Africa as a whole – a sentiment that Washington officials made clear this week in their discussions of legislative and technological setbacks plaguing progress in fighting the epidemic. Despite the World Health Organisation’s announcement Friday that Ebola is now an “international public health emergency,” doctors, academics and policymakers met Thursday at the Washington office of Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a health-policy non-profit, to discuss the similarly urgent threat posed by HIV/AIDS, the subject of last month’s 2014 International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia.Uganda’s anti-LGBT environment may explain the nation’s distinct increase in the number of new HIV infections, a trend that - with the exception of Angola - has been reversed in surrounding African nations. Ambassador Deborah Birx, the global AIDS coordinator for the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), echoed the threat’s urgency, explaining that “the AIDS pandemic in southern Africa is the primary cause of death for adolescents, and the primary killer of young women.” President Barack Obama announced Wednesday at the end of his three-day leaders’ summit with Africa that PEP...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Africa Development & Aid Featured Gender Gender Identity Headlines Health Human Rights LGBTQ North America Poverty & MDGs Women's Health HIV Testing HIV/AIDS International AIDS Society (IAS) PEPFAR Uganda Source Type: news