Deaf people and HIV/AIDS in Zambia

Deaf People and HIV/AIDS in Zambia

Deaf people, and people with disabilities, are the first to have HIV infection in Zambia and elsewhere. Yet, Deaf people, and people with disabilities, are also the first to be excluded from HIV/AIDS programs. For example, AIDS programs assume that Deaf people and others with disabilities don’t have sex. As a result, they assume Deaf or disabled people don’t need education about AIDS, testing for HIV, or treatment. In consequence, they refuse to remove accessibility barriers that exclude Deaf people from AIDS programs. Learn more about the situation of Deaf people and HIV/AIDS in Zambia.

The Human Rights Watch published this report in 2014. Meanwhile, the PDF file is partly accessible for people using screen reading software. However, it has some accessibility barriers. For example, it does not have a tag to tell screen readers what language it is.

Also read the story of Faith, a Deaf woman with HIV in Zambia. Additionally, explore other resources about Deaf people and health.