Caribbean partners from governments, civil society and the development community met on 7 June to discuss regional priorities for the 2021 United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS and its resulting political declaration. The virtual Caribbean Caucus was hosted by the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) and moderated by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Assistant Secretary-General, Douglas Slater.

The PANCAP Director, Rosmond Adams, noted that the Caribbean has made significant progress in key aspects of the HIV response. Eight countries and territories have been validated by the World Health Organization for eliminating vertical HIV and syphilis transmission. And between 2010 and 2020, AIDS-related deaths in the region fell by half (51%).

But to get on track to end AIDS by 2030, he said Caribbean countries must step up the pace around prevention, testing, treatment, care and ending stigma and discrimination. By 2020, 82% of people living with HIV in the region were diagnosed. Two thirds (67%) of all people living with HIV were on treatment and 59% were virally suppressed.

While new HIV infections have fallen by 28% since 2010, the rate of decline is too slow. Overall, members of key population communities and their partners accounted for 60% of new HIV infections in 2020. Around one third of new HIV infections were among young people aged 15–24 years.

Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV (CRN+), Diana Weekes noted that key structural barriers continue to block access to HIV prevention, treatment and care services. These include “stigma and discrimination … lack of privacy, breach of confidentiality and limited redress” when people’s rights have been violated. She noted that no country in the region has adopted the CARICOM model antidiscrimination legislation, which was developed almost a decade ago. CRN+ called for greater emphasis on policy and legislative changes as well as community-led responses to address these structural barriers.

Ivan Cruickshank, the Executive Director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, pointed to regional data that show that HIV disproportionately affects key populations, including gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs.

“According to the latest UNAIDS report, nations with progressive laws and policies, as well as robust and inclusive health systems, have had the best HIV outcomes. We must therefore create inclusive societies in which people are confident in their ability to seek medical treatment and exercise their social and economic rights. We must go beyond declarations, to remove laws that continue to criminalize communities and limit young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health and rights,” Mr Cruickshank said.

The Guyana Health Minister and Caribbean representative on the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, Frank Anthony, reaffirmed the region’s commitment to the HIV response, saying that “governments in the region stand ready to do their part in ending AIDS by 2030.”

He pointed to longstanding challenges in the region, such as “removing the legal obstacles that foster discriminatory practices” and “prevention sustainability.” But he also emphasized the new threat posed by COVID-19, noting that “finite financial resources had to be reprogrammed to meet these urgent demands.” He called for increased vaccine equity and a review of plans to transition countries in the region away from international HIV funding.  

“We must use the platform available to us at this United Nations high-level meeting to ensure that we highlight our vulnerabilities to the HIV epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

During discussions, civil society participants also emphasized the profound negative impact of COVID-19 containment measures on lives and livelihoods. They said there was an additional need for solutions to provide nutrition, mental health and financial support to people living with HIV and members of key population communities.

The Director of the UNAIDS New York Liaison Office, César Núñez, noted that in the response to both HIV and COVID-19, the role of communities is clear.

“The response must include a key role for civil society at the table when frameworks are being put together and implemented,” he said.

Mr Núñez ended by calling for CARICOM’s support in securing an ambitious, action-oriented and laser-focused political declaration.

Patson Manyati cuts an awkward and lonely figure in a room bustling with young people in their twenties. His elegant poise, greying beard and baby blue shirt place him at least 40 years too old for this scene.

Mr Manyati is on one of his first visits to the drop-in centre of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) in Mutare, in eastern Zimbabwe. GALZ is a membership-based association that promotes, represents and protects the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in Zimbabwe.

While Mr Manyati may look out of place, being at GALZ is the most “comfortable” he has ever felt as a gay man living in Zimbabwe in his 60 years.  

“When I see people like me, I feel very happy,” says Mr Manyati in his musical, soft-spoken voice. His eyes don’t stop shimmering while he talks. Remarkable for someone who has grown up around pervasive homophobia. The kind of homophobia that, as recently as 2017, saw the former president describe gay people as, “worse than dogs and pigs.”

GALZ maintains that the hatred and fear caused by the late president’s particular brand of homophobia, “is still being felt in Zimbabwe today.”

While being at GALZ makes him happy, as soon as Mr Manyati ventures out beyond the gates of the premises, he must be guarded and vigilant. Beyond the insults, the threat of jail is real, as Zimbabwe punishes same-sex sexual relationships with up to 14 years imprisonment.

Beyond jail, there is the everyday lived experience of discrimination, violence and hate crimes with which LGBTI people must contend—not only in Zimbabwe, but also in the 69 countries worldwide that criminalize same-sex sexual relationships.

And even in countries that don’t, like neighbouring South Africa. While same-sex marriage is legal and LGBTI rights are constitutionally enshrined, being gay is dangerous. In the first half of 2021, there has been a spate of murders of young gay men and an outcry from the LGBTI community for the government, media and public to take hate crimes more seriously.

Under these conditions, it is an act of defiance just to exist and, even more so, to be deliberately happy.

Happiness is something Mr Manyati has tried to carve out for himself, despite the odds.

Born in Mutoko, a small town in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland East Province, Mr Manyati says his parents expected him to get married in his twenties to a woman and to carry on the family name as one of the seven Manyati sons.

While his parents insisted on marriage for some time, Mr Manyati stood his ground. As the sole caregiver for his parents and siblings, they eventually gave in and he lived his life single, never coming out to his parents. 

“I couldn’t get married because I have the body of a male but, inside, I feel like a female. I know I am … I feel … like a female. So why should I marry a female?”, he says, visibly grappling with complex concepts about his gender identity without the vocabulary to do so.

Here at GALZ, everyone tells him “who they are,” says Mr Manyati. Perhaps with a few more visits and more interaction with the young people around him, who are so much more self-assured in their sexual orientation and gender identity, it may not be too late for Mr Manyati to give name to his feelings.

GALZ is a lifeline for its members. It offers regular clinic days at its Harare drop-in centre and referrals at its other drop-in centres, in Mutare and Masvingo, for a range of health-care services, including HIV prevention and treatment. It also provides critical counselling services and safe spaces for LGBTI people to socialize and relax, away from the “harsh” streets.

The leadership at GALZ says that things are slowly getting better for LGBTI people in Zimbabwe.

In 2017, GALZ was included as an official participant in the funding proposal developed for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This helped to secure US$ 2 million for programmes that serve gay men and other men who have sex with men, the largest investment ever in an HIV and sexual and reproductive health response for the community. The funding resulted in the three GALZ drop-in centres.

The National AIDS Council (NAC) of Zimbabwe has a key populations forum, supported by UNAIDS, and of which GALZ is a member. The NAC is visibly working to improve the health and well-being of key populations even while their activities remain criminalized.

Despite progress, the lingering stigma and discrimination that the LGBTI community faces in Zimbabwe has resulted in Mr Manyati and people of his generation leading an isolated life. 

“It makes me feel safer to rather stay by myself,” says Mr Manyati, adding that all his peers and friends from the LGBTI community have since died. “Sometimes I cry,” he sighs.

When Mr Manyati’s friends were alive, they would live their lives to the fullest, even though the law was a constant threat and they remained unlucky in love with the men they encountered. 

“[You would know] he doesn't really like you because he has another love somewhere and you are just one on the side. In the end, he gets married and leaves you,” says Mr Manyati of these encounters.

Mr Manyati is adamant that he is “too old” to look for love now, and that he would rather focus on looking after his health as one of the estimated 1.4 million Zimbabweans living with HIV.

Mr Manyati discovered he was living with HIV when he developed a cough five years ago. He went to a local nongovernmental organization, New Start, for an HIV test and after a course of tuberculosis treatment he was initiated immediately onto HIV treatment. His health is his main priority.

“I continue with HIV treatment. That’s how I’m looking healthy now,” Mr Manyati concludes, eyes still shimmering.

* Not Yet Uhuru is a quote by the Kenyan freedom fighter Oginga Odinga. Uhuru is a Swahili word meaning “freedom”; thus, it loosely means “not yet free”. It is a hashtag routinely used by GALZ in its social media posts.

The UNITY Platform, a network of 34 organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, has just published its 2020 annual report on violence against sexual and gender minorities in Cameroon. The report, produced annually by all the associations that the platform covers, shows more than 2000 cases of violence and violations of the rights of sexual and gender minorities affecting 930 people in 2020, compared to just less than 1400 in 2019. More than half of the reported cases involved psychological violence, with the rest consisting of cases of physical, sexual, economic or legal violence and hate speech. Gay men were the most affected victims of violence (552), followed by lesbians (214) and transgender people (64).

The report, Transphobie: le visage d’une nouvelle crise, places particular emphasis on violence against transgender people, which is being increasingly documented. According to a survey conducted by Réseau Indépendant des Trans d’Afrique, the results of which are published in the report, 53% of transgender people surveyed had experienced gender-based violence in health facilities. The perpetrators of violence could be strangers on the street (45%), family (41%), close or distant relatives (33%), intimate partners (26%) or ex-partners (10%).

The response to the violence by the UNITY Platform, which is hosted by the Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS (Camfaids), is presented in the annual report and includes services available within member organizations and external services offered in partnership with other organizations as needed.

The response mechanism starts with documentation and investigation and continues through medical care (consultations, examinations, care, treatment, provision of medication), psychological care (counselling, assessment of mental state, psychological consultations and follow-ups), social care (provision of means of subsistence, support in finding employment, admission to temporary housing as appropriate) and legal care (legal advice, assistance in drafting and filing a complaint) provided by one or more of the platform’s organizations.

“We have a system of focal points on gender-based violence issues within each UNITY member organization who are the first point of contact for victims. This is reassuring for the victims, who feel safe and understood simply because they are in a space that is well known to them,” said Nickel Liwandi, the Executive Director of Camfaids.

External mechanisms can include legal assistance through the intervention of a lawyer or police officer, medical assistance through specialized medical consultations, examinations, minor or major surgery and forensic certification or social assistance through referral to a partner organization’s shelter.

UNAIDS recently supported the efforts of the UNITY Platform and other civil society organizations in creating a space for exchange between LGBT organizations and other civil society organizations implementing HIV programmes with key populations, such as CAMNAFAW (Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare) and CARE Cameroon, to review the assistance provided to people prosecuted because of their real or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation.

Action continues to be taken to mobilize United Nations agencies and “champions” identified within governments, nongovernmental organizations and partner institutions to support civil society advocacy, as well as to institutionalize a platform for regular coordination and review of progress in implementing Cameroon’s recently adopted Five-Year Plan 2020–2024 to reduce human rights-related barriers to accessing HIV services.

“The mobilization of Cameroonian LGBT organizations within the Unity Platform is valuable because it provides us with the evidence needed for advocacy and action. The Unity Platform’s new report will serve to assess progress in reaching the targets of the Five-Year Plan 2020–2024. UNAIDS is committed to supporting the country’s efforts in line with our vision to achieve zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths,” said Steave Nemande, UNAIDS Strategic Intervention Officer for Cameroon.

GENEVA, 6 May 2021—UNAIDS is deeply concerned by the Ugandan parliament’s decision earlier this week to adopt the Sexual Offences Bill 2019, which includes provisions that further criminalize entire groups of people, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, sex workers and people living with HIV. The bill criminalizes same-sex sexual relations, extends the criminalization of sex work and imposes mandatory testing for HIV and harsher sentences on people living with HIV than the general population accused of some similar crimes.

Although UNAIDS welcomes some aspects of the bill, such as the extension of protection from sexual harassment, violence and sexual exploitation to groups of people such as people in detention and migrant workers, it urges parliamentarians to reconsider the provisions that discriminate against some people.

“I am deeply troubled by the Ugandan parliament’s adoption of portions of this bill that further criminalize and marginalize vulnerable groups of fellow citizens and deny them their human rights, including their right to health,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima. “Targeting people living with HIV, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and sex workers increases stigma and discrimination and undermines the HIV response by preventing people from receiving the HIV treatment, prevention and care services that they so urgently need.”

UNAIDS recognizes the good progress that Uganda has made in recent years in reducing the impact of HIV. The number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen by 60% since 2010, with 1.2 million people out of 1.5 million people living with HIV on medicines to keep them alive and well. In addition, the number of new HIV infections has fallen by 43% since 2010. However, many vulnerable groups of people, such as gay men and other men who have sex with men and sex workers, continue to be less likely than the general population to receive the HIV treatment, prevention and care services they need.

UNAIDS urges Uganda to join the growing number of countries in Africa and globally that are removing unjust laws from their penal codes. The Ugandan parliament’s adoption of the new law comes just weeks before the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS, which will take place from 8 to 10 June 2021.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Viral hepatitis infection is a major global public health problem causing approximately 1.4 million deaths per year—more than the annual number of AIDS-related deaths. Ninety-six per cent of these deaths are from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma due to hepatitis B and C viruses, which are transmitted via blood and body fluids.

People living with HIV and hepatitis B or hepatitis C coinfection have a more rapid progression to cirrhosis. Liver disease has emerged as an important cause of death among people living with HIV coinfected with either hepatitis B or hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C coinfection with HIV is reported across all key populations at higher risk of HIV, especially among people who inject drugs. This is due to the ease with which both viruses are spread through the sharing of non-sterile drug preparation and injecting equipment.

The transgender community has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and the Pacific. “My main worry is about survival and being able to support and cover the essential needs of the transgender community when job security is less and businesses are closing,” said Khartini Slamah, a transgender woman and activist from Sarawak, Malaysia, who is also known as Mama Tini in her community. “Many transgender people are unable to pay rent and utility bills, unable to do sex work, conduct their usual businesses. Some even lost their jobs,” she said.

Mama Tini’s testimony is featured in the COVID-19 Effect Series, a regular newsletter that profiles issues, challenges and solutions from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) communities, key populations and people living with HIV across Asia and the Pacific, created by APCOM, a regional network for LGBTI people based in Bangkok, Thailand. Since April 2020, with more than 19 issues, the newsletter has provided a platform to leverage the voices of people living with HIV and LGBTI people and to share stories, highlight challenges, showcase innovation and build strength within these communities.

The articles included in the newsletter show how civil society organizations are playing a critical role in providing essential safety nets for vulnerable communities during the pandemic. Since the first COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia, Mama Tini has been working closely to provide support to transgender women, gay men and other men who have sex with men and female sex workers to encourage sexual health screening and testing and to raise awareness of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The newsletter is also a testament to how community-led organizations have used the structure and networks from the HIV response to ensure timely access to information about COVID-19 while preventing disruption to HIV services. Examples of these initiatives include how community-led HIV services provide antiretroviral therapy, HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to key populations and fundraising efforts for food packages.

CARMAH, a partner in Viet Nam, has been implementing the TestSGN initiative to encourage HIV testing in Ho Chi Minh City for several years. Since the beginning of the pandemic, CARMAH has provided PrEP to 450 gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender people in Ho Chi Minh City. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the organization implemented more flexible working schedules to ensure that PrEP and HIV testing services were not disrupted.

“The COVID-19 Effect Series documents the important work carried by our community partners and individuals in the response to COVID-19. The series captures inspiring stories from the grass-roots level on overcoming challenges, sharing best practices and how we are all working tirelessly to ensure access to HIV prevention and treatment services and the protection of LGBTI rights,” said Midnight Poonkasetwattana, the Executive Director of APCOM

The COVID-19 Effect Series also captures the unique voices of outreach workers. One of them is Deepak Tripathi, a Senior Programme Officer at the Committed Communities Development Trust (CCDT), an organization based in Mumbai, India. He has a background in and passion for documentary movies, story-telling and news anchoring, but now works full time at CCDT. Throughout the pandemic, Mr Tripathi has been committed to helping the communities hit hard by the economic fall-out from COVID-19.

“Most nongovernment organizations in India, including CCDT, play a crucial role in continuing improving the health and well-being of their target population or beneficiaries, especially during natural crises or disasters, including the COVID-19 crisis,” said Mr Tripathi. CCDT held fundraising events to support migrant workers and daily-wage communities, donated medical equipment and 3000 personal protective equipment kits to hospitals in Mumbai and supplied nutrition kits or bags to 500 individuals and the families of people living with and affected by HIV.

APCOM has also used the COVID-19 Effect Series to promote fundraising initiatives, such as #CoronaAPCOMpassion, an emergency fund started by APCOM staff donating their salaries. APCOM collaborated with SWING, the Thai Sex Workers Organization, based in Bangkok and Pattaya, and mobilized 20 000 baht (US$ 650) to purchase basic food and supplies for sex workers. Also, APCOM donated 9000 baht (US$ 300) to the Bangkok Rainbow Organization to support the health and well-being of LGBTI people in Thailand. You can watch a video here and read about other communities that have benefited from this emergency funding, and how you can support it.

“The human-interest stories included in the COVID-19 Effect Series raise the visibility of human rights violations and the challenges faced by LGBTI people and people living with HIV in accessing health services. The series amplifies community voices that have often been unheard in COVID-19 narratives,” said Eamonn Murphy, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific, which has provided financial support to make the newsletter a reality.

To mark Zero Discrimination Day by making the voices of the communities heard, APCOM is launching a short report that compiles stories and articles published in the COVID-19 Effect Series.

GENEVA, 23 February 2021—UNAIDS warmly welcomes the appointment of Andrew Spieldenner as the Executive Director of MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights. MPact has been working since 2006 at the intersection of sexual health and human rights for gay and bisexual men and is linked to more than 120 community-based organizations in 62 countries. MPact has long been a key partner of UNAIDS—its work is critical for the promotion of the health and rights of gay and bisexual men and their communities and to ending AIDS.

“Andrew Spieldenner is a long-time respected HIV activist and scholar. In recent years, he has provided invaluable service to UNAIDS and the global AIDS response through his role as a delegate to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director. “We look forward to continue working closely with him in this new position and to strengthen our relationship with MPact to address the challenges and inequalities faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities in accessing health and fully enjoying their human rights around the globe.”

Mr Spieldenner’s commitment to people living with HIV, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities, feminist principles and racial justice has been evident throughout his 30 years of activism. A skilled organizer, communicator and mentor, he brings to his new position at MPact a long history of engagement with networks of people living with HIV. Working within local organizations, national networks of people living with HIV, health departments and academia, he has been at the centre of movements for social justice, leading from within, in partnership with the communities of which he is a part.

Mr Spieldenner will take up his new role on 1 March 2021.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Ralph Ivan Samson, the President of Y-PEER Pilipinas, and his team of young volunteers have been working tirelessly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to supply antiretroviral therapy to young people struggling to get refills. “How could I sleep at night knowing that community members were depressed and anxious about their refills. I had young people texting me they were down to their last couple of pills,” said Mr Samson, remembering the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines in March 2020. It was at this moment that he knew he had to do something.

Throughout the region, civil society organizations like Y-PEER Pilipinas began looking into ways of overcoming the barriers and challenges that prevent young people from accessing HIV services due to COVID-19 restrictions. For example, Y-PEER gained support from local governments with special travel passes to enable the delivery of antiretroviral therapy from the hospital straight to the doorsteps of young people living with HIV.

Y-PEER Pilipinas was one of several beneficiaries of the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, a regional small-grants programme established by Youth LEAD to support initiatives led by young people across Asia and the Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 relief fund supported 12 organizations led by young people in nine countries with various projects, including the delivery of antiretroviral therapy, hygiene products, opioid substitution therapy, emergency supplies and food, cash transfer programmes for businesses run by transgender people and housing for key populations.

Youth LEAD’s efforts to mobilize resources during the early days of the pandemic are a testament to young people rising up to the occasion and working in coordination with regional partners of the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific. In their efforts to raise funds, Youth LEAD relied on the findings of a regional assessment on the needs of young key populations and young people living with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic conducted by the Inter-Agency Task Team on Young Key Populations Asia Pacific (IATT on YKP), a regional coordinating platform comprised of United Nations agencies and young key populations regional networks. The results of this assessment helped to inform the IATT on YKP and its regional and national partners on ways to support organizations led by young key populations during the COVID-19 response. The evidence gathered through the survey was used to inform preparedness response plans and local strategies on providing timely information on COVID-19 prevention, supporting the delivery of antiretroviral therapy and tackling stigma and discrimination. 

With the support received from Youth LEAD, Mr Samson and his team of volunteers provided condoms and lubricant and emergency supplies to young key populations and young people living with HIV across several provinces in the Philippines. The programme is known online as #GetCondomsPH, and a similar initiative led by young people from the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund supported the delivery of antiretroviral therapy to people’s doorsteps in Goa, India.

Aadi Baig, Programme Manager, and his team at Wasaib Sanwaro, an organization that works with gay men and other men who have sex with men and male sex workers in Pakistan, have also benefited from the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. Mr Baig revealed a troubling picture of how the COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse for key populations. “The pandemic has created a greater divide among people, socially and economically, and has uncovered the lack of social security and protection programmes for key populations.”

With the support received, Wasaib Sanwaro donated food and supplies to key populations and provided basic HIV and COVID-19 training. Although there are limited funding schemes for organizations of young people across the region to access grants, regional networks of young people, such as Youth LEAD, Y-PEER and YVC, and the coordinated response by the IATT on YKP, which in 2020 was co-chaired by the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific, the APCASO nongovernmental organization and the United Nations Development Programme, have stepped in to provide support.

As part of the work of the IATT on YKPs, a website that pools together COVID-19 resources for young key populations and showcases how young people have stepped up to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic was developed. The website also focuses on resources on the mental health of young key populations and the well-being of adolescents and young people at higher risk of HIV.

The most crucial aspect of all these activities was visibility, the visibility of young people, to ensure that young key populations and young people living with HIV had a voice during the pandemic. To keep the issues and needs of young key populations on the top of the advocacy agenda in the region, the IATT on YKP, with support from the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific and Youth LEAD, held the first Spill the T with YKPs webinar—an online panel with young people from across the region that offered a platform for young people to talk about their initiatives and their roles in the COVID-19 response. The series continued through the collaboration of the IATT on YKP with partners and explored issues of young people’s leadership, mental health and sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

GENEVA, 12 January 2021—UNAIDS is concerned that the vilification of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Uganda could lead to heightened violence, stigma and discrimination against them and reduce their access to HIV and other essential services. In a recent media interview, the President, Yoweri Museveni, described being LGBT as a “deviation”.

“Using offensive language that describes LGBT people as “deviant” is simply wrong,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Stigma and discrimination based on sexual orientation violates rights and keeps people away from HIV testing, treatment, prevention and care services. The HIV epidemic can never end while some groups of people are excluded from health services.”

UNAIDS advocates with legislators, other government authorities and civil society globally to establish anti-discrimination and protective laws to eliminate the discrimination and violence faced by LGBT people and to advance the right to health for all people without exception.

Uganda has made considerable progress against the HIV epidemic in recent years. Of the estimated 1.5 million people living with HIV in Uganda in 2019, around 1.3 million were aware of their HIV status and 1.2 million were on treatment. More than 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV in Uganda receive antiretroviral therapy to keep them healthy and prevent transmission of the virus to their children.

However, in Uganda gay men and other men who have sex with men are less likely to have access to the HIV testing, treatment, prevention and care services that could keep them healthy and well, in part because of the stigma and discrimination they face in health-care settings and throughout society. 

“It’s clear that to end the AIDS epidemic in Uganda there is a need to build a more inclusive society where everyone enjoys the right to health. UNAIDS stands ready to work with all partners to end stigma and discrimination against the LGBT community and achieve the full respect of their universal human rights,” said Ms Byanyima.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.