Glum Findings on Africa’s Gay Male HIV Rate
In some African nations, the HIV rate among gay men is 10 times higher than their heterosexual counterparts, according to a report. Discrimination and prejudice against gays in these nations are behind the problem, the research, which was published in the medical journal The Lancet said. There is “profound stigma and social hostility at every level of society concerning either same-sex behaviors amongst me or homosexuality,” Adrian Smith, one of the lead researchers, told the BBC. The prejudice makes gays “extremely hard to reach.” To make matters worse, a lot of the HIV-positive gay men have female sex partners who are also becoming infected. The men often “hide their sexual orientation” so they can get married and are unaware of the risks of unprotected sex. “Most of them know that you can contract HIV/AIDS or any infection when you are making sex with women, but not when you are having sex with another man,” George Kanuma, a Burundi gay rights activist told the BBC. More HIV education and prevention resources are needed on the continent, the report says.

 Guyana Authorities Probe Suspicious Fire
The early morning fire, which burned down Guyana’s Minstry of Health Friday, is still being investigated by authorities in the Caribbean nation, reports the BBC. It took only minutes for the wooden building to go up in flames, according to eyewitnesses. Police are not giving many details, but they say there were fire-starting tools taken from the scene, and at least one government official is suspecting foul play. “It appears to me from all that I’m hearing is that it is a clear case of arson,” the nation’s Health Minister Leslie Ransammy told the BBC.

TAGS: arson, fire, Gay Africans, Guyana, HIV/AIDS rate, homosexual sex

Comments (6)