Portuguese Health Authority Responds to Criticism Over World AIDS Day Image
Portugal’s Directorate-General for Health (DGS) has reaffirmed its commitment to non-discrimination following a controversy surrounding an image shared on its social media channels in observance of World AIDS Day. The DGS stated its position, “The DGS rejects discrimination for any reason, namely sex, race, color, ethnic or social origin or others,” aligning with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as reported by the Lusa agency.
The issue stemmed from a publication featuring an image provided by UNAIDS, the Joint united Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, as part of the International Day to Fight AIDS. The image depicted three Black individuals with raised arms accompanied by the message “AIDS is not over.” The post subsequently attracted numerous negative comments.
According to the DGS, the image, originally produced and made available by UNAIDS for International AIDS Day, was shared with community partners and received some publicity. The DGS translated the message into Portuguese for its audience.
Later in the day, the DGS replaced the Portuguese-language post with the original UNAIDS post, featuring the message in English (“Aids is not over”). the health authority explained this decision was intended to clarify the message’s origin and demonstrate “full respect for human rights.”
The campaign image,the DGS clarified,serves to highlight that AIDS “is not over yet and that there is a way to go,throughout the world,to mitigate the risks and achieve” the Sustainable Development Goals target of ending AIDS by 2030.
