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HIV/AIDS in Burundi: An exclusive interview with Jeanne Gapiya, The founding president of the National Association for the Support of People Living with HIV/AIDS 	You have been living with HIV for many years. How did you happen to get tested and what was it like accessing care and treatment? How have issues related to AIDS stigma and access to treatment changed in Burundi since you were diagnosed?

In 1987, when my son was sick… there were no antiretroviral (ARV) medications and being HIV positive was equivalent to death warrant. Now that ARV treatments are made available for HIV positive patients, there have been a lot of improvements, although the stigma is still present. Today, people show willingness to diagnosis with the hope of getting treated with ARV medications. Moreover, people are no longer discriminated against on like before, since the physical aspect has greatly improved for those who are fortunate enough to be on treatment. 	How did you get involved in ANSS and what does your organization do in Burundi? What is your role?

The ANSS began after my public agitation against a church priest who said that people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) were living a divine punishment. Since then, I began by gathering small groups of people and everyone gave their own testimony and they began defending their own human rights. This advocacy act lead to the creation of ANSS. The ANSS became the first center that took on full responsibility of the PLWA in Burundi with a follower of over 8,000 people. My role includes mobilization of funds for PLWA in Burundi and advocating for human rights at the national and global level for people who are highly discriminated against (PLWA, gays, orphans, etc.), particularly advocating for their right to good care and adequate treatment. My other role includes constant advocacy visit to political leaders and decision makers on their roles and responsibilities.

Is tuberculosis a major problem in Burundi? Among people with HIV? Are there efforts to ensure that people with HIV are screened for tuberculosis and receive TB preventive therapy or TB treatment? Just like anywhere in Africa, tuberculosis has been the leading cause of death for PLWA. Several relentless effort has been made with the Global Fund support to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, but the sustainability and continuity is essential. The preventive and curative treatments are available but the challenging issue is diagnosing the resistant cases of TB, especially patient who are co-infected with HIV and TB

What do you think the highest priorities should be in the area of HIV prevention in your country? As we know, research have shown that when people who are infected are well-treated, they are not detectable and their contamination rate is almost nothing. I believe that this is the solution to the problem: to treat all the people who are infected with HIV and strongly encourage voluntary testing.

It is quite an honor to be asked to speak at the United Nations. What was the most important point you were trying to make in your speech at the Civil Society Hearing last week? Yes it was an honor for me, an honor for my country, but most importantly an honor for the civil society to have this opportunity and express ourselves and what we live everyday as the front-liners. The most important point was to challenge the decision makers to be continuously engaged and involved in order to help save the remaining two-thirds of people who are still waiting for treatments. During your speech you mentioned a tax on currency exchange that could generate $200 to $300 billion a year. Can you tell me more about that? I was referring to a 0.05 percent tax that could be applied against all financial transactions and it may seem insignificant but it can potentially generate between $200- $300 million which can help several sectors in poor countries. You also mentioned in your speech that civil society has the duty of reminding governments and other partners of their commitments to combating the AIDS pandemic. What can civil society do to hold governments and other actors accountable to their pledges? The civil society must always be vigilant so that all decisions that the governments take on must be followed through and put in practice. The civil society should always be ready to denounce and speak up whenever there is any wrong doing