African presidents who have tested publicly

President Yoweri Museveni becomes one of the few African leaders who have publicly tested for HIV in a bid to rally their citizens to follow suit.

In 2001, Botswana’s then president, Festus Mogae became the first to be publicly tested for HIV. He was followed by ministers and parliamentarians.

The most recent has been South African President Jacob Zuma, who in 2010, launched one of the most ambitious voluntary counselling and testing campaigns in history, by testing and disclosing his HIV-negative status.

Ministers and provincial premiers have been following his example in a campaign that tested about 15 million people in 13 months.

Other presidents who have tested publicly are Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda in 2002, who had lost a son to AIDS. He later founded the Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, which runs schools for children orphaned by AIDS.

In 2004, Malawi’s Bakili Muluzi publicly tested, after losing a brother to AIDS.

In 2004, Lesotho’s prime minister, Pakalitha Mosisili tested publicly when the country became the first in Africa to initiate Universal Voluntary Counselling and Testing.

This was followed by over 200 senior government officials. During the function, the Catholic Archbishop of Lesotho, the Very Reverend Bernard Mohlalisi, created fun by jumping the queue to stand in front of the prime minister, who joked saying the spiritual father can lead the way.

Ethiopia’s prime minister Meles Zenawi and his wife Azeb Mesfin tested on World AIDS Day in 2004, and were followed by several high-profile Ethiopians, who included the state minister for finance and economy, Mulu Ketsala, and US ambassador Aurelia Brazeal.

In 2006, when President Barack Obama, then US senator, and his wife, visited their homeland, Kenya, they took HIV tests before a crowd of thousands in Kisumu, where Obama’s father was born.

“If a US senator can get tested, anyone can get tested,” he was reported to have said at the time.

On World AIDS Day 2006, Dr. Riek Machar, South Sudan then vice-president and Nigeria’s president Olusegun Obasanjo, were also tested publicly.

Later in 2007, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete and his wife kicked off the national HIV testing campaign in July, with the prime minister Edward Lowassa and his wife, several ministers, 100 MPs and many other public figures testing publicly.

The campaign tested an estimated 4.1 million Tanzanians in six months.