Disability and HIV & AIDS

Background of the campaign

© S.Bonnet / Handicap International

Persons with disabilities across Africa have been feeling the impact of HIV & AIDS in their families and communities since the beginning of the pandemic. Many of these individuals and groups have responded to mitigate this impact on a local level, thus becoming valuable actors in their entourage.
However, as the response to HIV becomes more organized, as decisions and resources are concentrated increasingly at the national level, persons with disabilities have found themselves at the fringes of the civil society rights-based movement and excluded from initiatives that aspire to achieve "Access for All."

Why a campaign?

© S. Bonnet / Handicap International

Eighty million people in Africa are disabled. They make up a large proportion of people in the poorest communities, which are also severely affected by HIV & AIDS.

Persons with disabilities, who make up around 10% of a country's population, are still excluded from the response to the AIDS pandemic. 

Persons with disabilities in Africa face the same, and in some cases higher, risks to HIV infection, compared to their non-disabled peers.

The rights of persons with disabilities to access HIV information and services as a citizen of their country are being violated.

Campaign Objectives

The Africa Campaign is a unifying umbrella under which disabled people's organizations, organizations of people living with HIV & AIDS, non-governmental organizations, AIDS services organizations, researchers, activists, and other citizens work collectively to achieve two main objectives:

- A coordinated response involving persons with disabilities in African countries to achieve inclusive national HIV & AIDS policies and programmes

- Equal access for persons with disabilities in Africa to information and services on HIV & AIDS.

The Africa Campaign strategic objectives cover a five year period from 2007 – 2011. A minimum of 12 countries are expected to achieve both objectives given policy makers' willingness to collaborate, Campaign partners' operational presence in-country as well as the strength of the Disability and HIV & AIDS movements. The successes and challenges faced in at least 12 countries during the next five years will serve as models for extension or duplication throughout Africa after 2011.