First ladies resolve to combat HIV/AIDS stigmatisation

A two-day conference for African first ladies opened on Thursday in Rwanda, focusing on ways to fight HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination across sub-Saharan Africa. The first ladies from Gabon, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda said they sought to replace stigma with support, fear with hope and shame and silence with solidarity. Hosted by Rwanda's Janet Kagame, the conference is titled "United Against Stigma and Discrimination". The first ladies said that HIV/AIDS remained one of the greatest threats to life on the continent, yet stigmatisation and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS had affected prevention campaigns and undermined care and support efforts. Kagame said that stigma emanated from a combination of fear and shame. "Fear because testing positive is tantamount to a death sentence and shame because the HIV mode of transmission is surrounded by taboo and moral judgement," she said. According to Agnes Binawgaho of the Rwanda National AIDS Control Programme, out of the 42 million people affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide, 70 percent are in sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, 90 percent of new infections are in the region yet only 4 percent have access to antiretroviral treatment. Rwanda has one of the highest infection rates in the region, with 13.5 percent of its 8.1 million people affected by HIV/AIDS, Binawgaho said. The first ladies pledged to mobilise their other African compatriots and leaders to champion the AIDS-related stigma reduction campaign on the continent. "The more alarm we raise about HIV/AIDS the more lives we will save," Janet Museveni, of Uganda, said.