They met in Yaounde on April 10, 2015, to share best practices on protecting people living with AIDS.

One of the major challenges to tackling HIV/AIDS in the Central African Sub-region is stigmatisation and discrimination against people living with the disease.

In order to mitigate the impact of such an attitude, stakeholders from the six countries of the sub-region (Chad, the Central African Republic, CAR, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville), met in Yaounde on April 10, 2015, to discuss the results of recent surveys on the issue.

Opening the one-day seminar, the Cameroon Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, restated the importance of overcoming the tall order of stigmatisation.

He noted that women were more vulnerable to it and therefore need to be protected; adding that this was an additional challenge in HIV/AIDS care and treatment. As a result of stigmatisation, many lives are still being lost in Cameroon because some infected people do not want to take anti-retroviral treatment.

In a bid to tackle the HIV/AIDS scourge, almost 49 million male and two million female condoms were distributed in the Central African Sub-region in 2014, the Minister disclosed. “Prevention is the key to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, but this can only be helpful if those already living with the disease are not stigmatised. Discrimination against infected people and stigmatisation must not exist in our society. People must realize that we can live and work together with infected people without any problems,” André Mama Fouda insisted.

Dr Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein, the German Ambassador to Cameroon, spoke of his government’s support to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS and discrimination against people living with AIDS in the sub-region.

He disclosed that his government last year signed a new funding agreement worth 50 million Euros (about FCFA 33 billion), which lasts till 2016. He expressed hope that the support will be renewed.

On his part, Dr Constant Roger Ayenengoye, the Executive Secretary of the Organisation for the Coordination of the Fight Against Diseases in Central Africa, OCEAC, which hosted the conference, appealed to the media to pass on the message on the need for the public to continue to fight discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

An exhibition of HIV/AIDS material and information by representatives of the six countries also held on the sidelines of the conference.