Fewer patients are visiting some HIV treatment centres in Senegal amid a wave of arrests targeting LGBTQ people, according to health officials and government data seen by Reuters, threatening the country’s fight against the virus. Last month, Senegal, where homosexuality is illegal, doubled the maximum prison term for same-sex sexual acts to 10 years and criminalised what it described as any efforts to promote it. The country also increased the maximum fine to 10 million CFA francs ($18,000). According to local human rights activists and media reports, 86 people have been arrested in a crackdown that began in early February, when President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s government was preparing to introduce the new anti-LGBTQ law in parliament. That includes 18 arrested in a single raid on April 19 in Linguere, 300 km (186 miles) northeast of Dakar. There have been two convictions under the new law.

Full report : HIV patients in Senegal skip treatment, fearing arrest amid anti-LGBTQ crackdown.