HIV activists are in an uproar with Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, the reigning Miss South Africa, after she posted a photo of herself wearing white medical gloves while visiting an orphanage full of HIV-positive children.
After the photo was posted, the 22-year old beauty queen began facing allegations of stigma and racism, but Nel-Peters, who is mixed race, rebuked the outrage by saying she wore the gloves for hygiene purposes due to her handling food.
Soon after, Nel-Peters posted a video on her Twitter page, saying the photo was totally misunderstood and that “the real story was that 300 kids got a proper warm lunch and they got that with or without gloves.”
There were nearly 7 million people living with HIV in South Africa in 2015, according to Avert. That same year, there were 380,000 new diagnoses and 180,000 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses.
The virus cannot be spread by touching or hugging, but rather through the transmission of blood, semen, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, and breast milk.
Watch Nel-Peters' response video below:
