IRIN/PlusNews has compiled a short list of the ways people refer to HIV/AIDS on the African continent.

Angola (Portuguese)

Pisar na mina – Contracting HIV is like having “stepped on a landmine”

Bichinho - “Little bug” (the virus)

Botswana (SeTswana)

Phamo kate – phamo “a quick snatch”, and kate “buried” (refers to AIDS)

Onale jwa radio – “He/she has the disease talked about on the radio” (radio is the primary method of disseminating HIV/AIDS knowledge)

Bolwestse jo booleng – “The illness that has befallen [us]” (euphemism for HIV and AIDS as a new illness)

Segajaja - meaning “something aggressive” (refers to HIV or AIDS)

Central African Republic (Sango)

Kota kobela – “Big sickness” (euphemism for AIDS, which people associate with slow, painful death)

Ala ninga na kobela – “They had been sick for a long time” (refers to death from  AIDS-related complications)

Kenya (Kikuyu, spoken mainly in central Kenya)

kagunyo - “The worm” (euphemism for HIV)

Namibia (Oshiwambo, spoken mainly in the north)

Okakiya - “Thorn” (Contracting HIV is like being pricked with a thorn, sure to cause discomfort; HIV-positive people are said to have been “pricked by a thorn”)

Omukithi gwo paive – “The disease of the present” (HIV and AIDS are new problems)

Namibia and parts of Angola (Oshindonga)

Omukithi gwo goni – “A disease of shame” (refers to AIDS)

Nigeria (Hausa, spoken mainly in the north)

Kabari Salama aalaiku - Literally translates as “Excuse me, grave” (reference to AIDS)

Tewo Zamani - Translates as the “sickness of this generation” (another reference to AIDS)

Nigeria (Igbo, spoken mainly in the east)

Ato nai ise – “Five and three” (5 + 3 = 8, and “eight” sounds like “AIDS”)

Oria Obiri na aja ocha – “Sickness that ends in death” (euphemism for AIDS)

Nigeria (Yoruba, spoken mainly in the west)

Eedi - “Curse”

Arun ti ogbogun – “Sickness without cure”

Nigeria (Pidgin, the unofficial lingua franca)

He don carry – “He carries the virus”

Nigeria (English)

HIV - He Intends Victory (acronym of HIV and a phrase popular among born-again Christians)

South Africa (IsiXhosa and IsiZulu)

Udlala ilotto – “Playing the lotto” /ubambe ilotto – “won the lotto” (said of someone suspected of being HIV positive; Lotto is the national lottery)

Unyathele icable – Contracting HIV is like “stepping on a live wire”

South Africa (SePulana, a language in the North Sotho group)

Ba mo tshwarisiye noga – “They threw a snake at him/her” – (refers to HIV; the shock when someone discovers his or her status)

O apere lepanta – “The belt” (supposed symptom of AIDS, in which a positive person develops a rash around their torso; it is also mistakenly believed that as the rash spreads, the person falls sicker and sicker until the “belt” connects to form a ring, at which time the person dies)

South Africa (English)

House in Vereeniging – (Acronym of HIV; “bought a house in Vereeniging”, a town about 50km south of Johannesburg, refers to someone suspected of being HIV positive)

Driving a “Z3″/ “having three kids”/ the “three letters” – All refer to the three letters in the HIV acronym

Tracker - If you are suspected of being HIV positive people say God is tracking you, like the popular southern African service that tracks and recovers stolen vehicles

Tanzania (KiSwahili)

amesimamia msumari – “Standing on a nail”; euphemism for being skinny, or being small enough to fit on a nail’s head, referring to AIDS-related weight loss

kukanyaga miwaya – Contracting HIV is like “stepping on a live wire”

mdudu - “The bug” (refers to HIV)

Uganda (English)

Slim - Euphemism for HIV/AIDS as a result of the associated weight loss; less popular since the advent of ARVs

Uganda (Luganda, spoken mainly in the central region)

Okugwa mubatemu – You have been waylaid by thugs (contracted HIV)

Zambia (Nyanja, spoken mainly in the east and the capital, Lusaka)

Kanayaka - “It has lit up” (refers to a positive reaction from an HIV test)

Ka-onde-onde – “Thing that makes you thinner and thinner” (HIV)

Zambia (Bemba, spoken mainly in the north and Lusaka)

Bamalwele ya akashishi – “Those that suffer from the germ” (HIV-positive people)

Kaleza - “Razor blade” (Refers to a person being thin as a result of AIDS-related weight loss)

Zimbabwe (Shona)

Ari pachirongwa – “He/she is on a (treatment) programme”

Akarohwa nematsoti - “He/she has been beaten by thieves”

Mukondas – Abbreviation of “mukondombera” (epidemic)

Ari kumwa mangai – “He/she is drinking mangai” (mangai is boiled corn seeds, which represent antiretroviral (ARV) drugs)

Akabatwa – “He/she was caught” (received a positive diagnosis)

Zvirwere zvemazuvano – “The current diseases” (the HIV epidemic)

Akatsika banana – “He/she has stepped on a banana and slipped” (someone who has tested positive and therefore will “fall” or die as a result)

Shuramatongo – “A bad omen for relatives”

Zimbabwe (English)

Red card – Like a football player being sent off, life is over

Go slow – Taken to mean that he/she is now progressing slowly towards death

TB2 – Refers to high rates of HIV and TB co-infection (used to denote AIDS)

RVR – Slang for ARVs, adapted from Mitsubishi’s RVR sports utility vehicle

John the Baptist – When someone has TB or HIV, he/she is said to have been baptised by “John the Baptist”, who has come to announce the coming of AIDS

FTT – “Failure to thrive” (adapted from the medical phrase, now used to describe HIV-positive children)

Boarding pass – Implies that HIV is a boarding pass to death

Departure lounge – An HIV-infected person is in the departure lounge awaiting death

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