In the 1980s, AIDS was a disease most governments would not name. Families hid it. Leaders stayed silent.
Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s first president, did the opposite. In 1987 he announced in public that his son Masuzyo had died of an AIDS related illness
It was a rare step for any head of state, anywhere in the world. Kaunda said he wanted people to understand that the disease could reach any family, including the president’s own.
After leaving office he made the fight against HIV and AIDS a large part of his life, travelling and speaking about testing and treatment well into his eighties.
The photo shows Kaunda in 2020, the year before his death at 97
Why do you think so few leaders spoke about it at the time?