HIV and drug users in Africa - Γιατροί του Κόσμου

The epidemic of HIV, against which the MDM are fighting for 18 years, is now reaching 6.5% of the population of Tanzania. It is concentrated primarily in high-risk groups, including users injected. According to the survey (English version) performed by MDM 30% of men and 67% of women taking their dose by injection have been infected. Against this proportion that shows the alarming prevalence of the virus, the MDM has started the first program to reduce the risks associated with drug use through injections a year before in East Africa, the capital of Tanzania: Dar es-Salaam.

One year after the launch of this pilot program on the occasion of World Day against HIV, the MDM joined the photo agency Magnum Photos to present the Bongo Fever: a webdoc carried out by the photographer Chien-Chi Chang will presented on the eve of December 1st, 2011.

A program based on the experience of MDM fighting against HIV since the early 80’s, especially in Afghanistan, where a similar program implemented in Kabul in 2006.

Increase of the number of beneficiaries from the center of MDM, use of sterile material by users, support for the introduction of methadone in the hospital of Dar es-Salaam: such encouraging results demonstrate the effectiveness of programs to reduce risks and the need for expansion into other African countries. A local project that commits MDM, first by the International Conference on HIV and STIs in Africa (ICASA), which will take place in Addis Abeba from 4 to 8 December 2011. MDM will hold a conference that is titled: “Make visible and fight a hidden epidemic: effective responses against infection and transmission of HIV, among drug users in Africa.”

Download the photos freely in consensus with the photographer Chien-Chi Chang