New strategy for Sweden's international HIV/AIDS efforts in sub-Saharan Africa

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 2, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Today, the Government adopted a regional strategy for regional efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and address sexual and reproductive health. The strategy also contains guidelines detailing how Sweden will contribute to improving sexual and reproductive health and efforts to improve human rights for homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people in sub-Saharan Africa, the region in the world most affected by HIV/AIDS. Worst afflicted are the countries in southern and eastern Africa.

The Government attaches great importance to the global effort to combat HIV/AIDS (Millennium Development Goal 6) and thereby associated efforts concerning sexual and reproductive health - and, in a broader sense, human rights including the rights of LGBT people.

As a step in these efforts, the Government today adopted a regional strategy for how Sweden will contribute to:

To implement the strategy, the Government is allocating a total of SEK 700 million for 2012-2013.

- efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa;

- efforts to improve living conditions for women and girls who are in different ways affected by HIV/AIDS; and

- efforts to increase respect for homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people's human rights

Short Facts

The efforts, lead by the regional HIV/AIDS team at the Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, will be conducted in close cooperation with Norway and regional actors, including the African Union and various regional cooperation organisations. Civil society organisations will also be involved in the cooperation. The business community will play an important role in terms of responsibility for the health and rights of employees.