African first ladies launch new AIDS drive
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The wives of 40 African leaders launched a campaign on Thursday to fight AIDS, saying the first step is to protect orphans and children suffering from a disease some countries still treat as taboo.
“People don’t want to talk about it for the simple reason that we have a society that is very judgmental on this issue,” Janet Kagame, wife of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, said after announcing the “Treat Every Child as Your Own” campaign.
Activists have criticized some African governments, particularly South Africa, in the past for questioning the severity of the AIDS crisis and being slow to introduce public health programs to combat the spread of the disease.
Kagame said the fact that 40 first ladies are backing the campaign showed governments are now committed to the cause.
“Everyone has had a member of their family who is infected,” Kagame told Reuters in an interview. “It’s so sad that after 20 years people feel really they don’t trust others on discussing their symptoms.”
Stigma, secrecy and fear meant many people did not seek treatment and contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS, she said.
Kagame was speaking as head of the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), which launched the new campaign on the sidelines of the United Nations world summit.
“We can’t stand silently by while more and more youth are infected,” Kagame told a news conference with the heads of UNICEF and UNAIDS, which are backing the campaign.
Kagame said the goal of the campaign is to stop new infections among young people, and the key to that is educating adults to protect children. There will be a mass media campaign across the continent backed by community programs, she said.
According to UNAIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10 percent of the world’s population but is home to more than 60 percent of all people living with HIV, and around 2.3 million people died of AIDS in the region in 2004.
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