Portuguese Health Authority Responds to Criticism Over World โขAIDS Day Image
drmichaellee, world-today-news.com
Portugal’s Directorate-General for Health โข(DGS)โฃ hasโข 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 โDGS rejects discrimination for any reason, namely sex, race,โข color, ethnic or social originโข or โคothers,” aligning with โคthe Charter ofโค Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as reported by the Lusa agency.
Theโฃ issue โขstemmed fromโ a โขpublication featuring an image provided byโค UNAIDS, the Joint united Nations Program on โคHIV/AIDS, as part of the International Day to Fight AIDS. The image depictedโ 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 โฃDay,โ was shared with community partnersโฃ and received some โpublicity. โ 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 โthe message in English โค(“Aids is notโข 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 โขAIDS “is not over yet and that thereโ is a way to go,throughout the โworld,to mitigate the โฃrisks and achieve”โฃ the Sustainable Development Goals target of ending AIDS byโฃ 2030.
