“It’s called ‘human’ rights, not ‘straight’ rights”

“Homophobia and discrimination is the main thing affecting LGBT people,” says Kaluso, who has personal experience of being attacked and victimised for being transgender. “It means that people aren’t able to come out, or that family chase people away.”

For LGBT people in Malawi, stigma and discrimination can make it almost impossible to access HIV prevention and treatment services. So serious is the problem that Kaluso believes that “people are dying silently”.

Community Health Rights Advocacy (CHeRA) has been assisted by a grant from the Rapid Response Fund.