Genocide Survivor Counselors Providing Testing, Treatment for Rwandan Women Infected With HIV Through Rape
Social workers from genocide survivor associations in Rwanda are providing psychosocial support, HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment to women infected with HIV through rape during the country's 1994 genocide, "The World" -- a coproduction of BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston -- reports. During the genocide, Hutu militia raped Tutsi women in a deliberate plan to use HIV/AIDS as a weapon. Many of the women remain hesitant to seek HIV testing or treatment because "acknowledging their illness means confronting the horror" of the genocide, according to PRI. The segment includes comments from Agnes Binagwaho, head of Rwanda's National AIDS Control Commission; Anne-Christine d'Adesky, executive co-director of Women's Equity in Access to Care and Treatment; and social workers involved in counseling (Fink, "The World," PRI, 9/8).
The complete segment is available online in Windows Media.