AIDS workers face serious challenges

Swazi AIDS activists are losing ground in the uphill battle of promoting condom use and tackling the stigma attached to people living with HIV/AIDS. "We do have new AIDS education initiatives ... but there is not a health worker in the kingdom who has found a way to convince Swazis to change the sexual behaviour that breeds AIDS," city council consultant and activist, Pholile Dlamini, told the UN news service PlusNews. An estimated 38.6 percent of Swazi adults are currently living with HIV/AIDS. However, Dlamini said because few Swazis were willing to declare their HIV-positive status, the true extent of the epidemic remained hidden. "There is sheer terror about AIDS. People know it is incurable. They won't get tested, or, if tested, they postpone getting the results. When they find they are HIV-positive, they won't acknowledge their condition publicly," Dlamini added.