Oops! US Displays Erroneous Map of Africa During International Conference

The United States Department of State displayed an incorrect or inaccurate map of Africa during an international AIDS conference held in Brazil earlier this week. Washington has described the error as an “unfortunate mistake.”

In slides presented by the US delegation during the major international AIDS conference, as reported by AFP on Friday (31/07/2026), six African nations were shown in incorrect locations. For instance, Nigeria was depicted as a landlocked country in the centre of the African continent, while Mozambique was placed in the Horn of

Africa and Ivory Coast was positioned in southern Africa.

Conference participants brought the error to public attention via social media posts. “We are responsible for the confusion and misinformation experienced by participants, including our partners from Africa,” a US State Department spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday (30/07) local time.

The US State Department stated that a team member on the ground had hastily modified the presentation slides just before the presentation took place to discuss US global health assistance.

Despite the error, the US praised the discussions at the conference as “substantive and constructive.”

The 26th International AIDS Conference opened on Monday (27/07) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, following a period where the US drastically reduced its international aid budget during the second term of President Donald Trump’s administration. Despite these significant budget cuts, according to a UNAIDS report published for the Rio de Janeiro conference, the US still contributes 74 per cent of the public funding allocated to combat HIV worldwide.