AIDS Conference Participants Call for Culturally Appropriate AIDS Prevention Strategies Targeting Africans, African Americans
Participants in a three-day PanAfrica AIDS conference in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday called for improved strategies for fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa and among African Americans, the Tennessean reports. The attendees, who included the first lady of Burundi and Ed Sanders, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, said that current efforts to fight HIV/AIDS within both populations were "failing dismally" and that new strategies should better account for differing cultural practices and beliefs. In addition, religious leaders at the conference discussed how the religious community could better address HIV/AIDS. Conference participants also planned to ask Congress to urge the International Monetary Fund to stop lending money to African nations that "spend money on war and conflict rather than health care and HIV prevention efforts," according to the Tennessean. According to Dr. Leonard Madu, the conference president, conference leaders also plan to send a delegation to Africa to educate health care workers and others about gay and lesbian HIV-positive patients, many of whom face discrimination when seeking treatment. The conference, which ended on Saturday, is sponsored by the PanAfrica Conference, a Nashville-based agency (Wadhwani, Tennessean, 11/3).
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