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PRESS RELEASE
IAS statement: IAS urges protection of health services amid the Israel-Hamas conflict
21 May 2024 (Geneva, Switzerland) – IAS - the International AIDS Society is deeply concerned about the impact of the escalating humanitarian crisis in the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict and urgently calls for the protection of healthcare facilities and workers. Where facilities have already been destroyed, rebuilding them to enable the resumption of health services is of utmost urgency.
Many affected communities, including people living with HIV, are now without vital healthcare services when they are most needed. As in many current ongoing conflicts, the loss of healthcare facilities has resulted in devastating consequences for civilian populations.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law in May 2023. One of the harshest anti-gay laws in the world, it imposes the death sentence for “aggravated homosexuality”.
Responding to a petition to annul the act, the court found that some sections of the law violated the right to health and that the law was “inconsistent with right to health, privacy and freedom of religion”. However, it declined to nullify the act “in its entirety” and neither would it grant a permanent injunction against its enforcement.
The IAS is concerned about the law keeping communities away from accessing HIV services and further marginalizing vulnerable populations. Anti-gay laws are associated with a higher HIV rate among men who have sex with men in Africa.
Since the Ugandan anti-gay law was passed, the number of clients attending drop-in centres providing HIV prevention and treatment services to key populations, including men who have sex with men, dropped from an average of 40 per week to two.
As the IAS has pointed out in a previous statement, the evidence is clear: criminalizing same-sex relations sharply increases the chances of acquiring HIV.
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About the International AIDS Society
IAS - the International AIDS Society – convenes, educates and advocates for a world in which HIV no longer presents a threat to public health and individual well-being. After the emergence of HIV and AIDS, concerned scientists created the IAS to bring together experts from across the world and disciplines to promote a concerted HIV response. Today, the IAS and its members unite scientists, policy makers and activists to galvanize the scientific response, build global solidarity and enhance human dignity for all those living with and affected by HIV. The IAS also hosts the world’s most prestigious HIV conferences: the International AIDS Conference, the IAS Conference on HIV Science and the HIV Research for Prevention Conference.
Source: https://www.iasociety.org/
Media contact
media@iasociety.org
"Reproduced with permission - "IAS – International AIDS Society"
IAS – International AIDS Society
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