Tanzania
has suspended community-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs for gay men,
the health minister said on Monday, in the latest crackdown on the
high-risk group.
Ummy Mwalimu, Tanzania's minister for health said the government had
received reports that some local non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
were promoting and normalizing same-sex relationships as part of their
HIV programs.
Gay sex is illegal in Tanzania and punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
In September, the government threatened to ban groups that "promote" the
rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in its
first public statement against the minority group.
"We have suspended MSM (men who have sex with men) community-based
interventions pending (a) review," Mwalimu told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
The minister, however, said the government would continue to provide
HIV/AIDS services to adolescent girls, drug users and other groups.
The East African country has a reputation for being more tolerant
towards LGBT people than its neighbor Uganda but recent comments
attacking the group have sparked fears and condemnation from activists.
There are 1.4 million people living with HIV in Tanzania, some 5 percent
of the country's population, according to government statistics.
HIV prevalence among gay men is higher at 25 percent.
John Kashika, of Community Health Education Services & Advocacy NGO,
said suspending HIV/AIDS programs for some LGBT groups was a blow in
the fight against the virus.
"This is essentially denial of services to people who are at the highest
risk of contracting HIV, there's going to be a lot of implications," he
said.
Source: Reuters
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