With the help of the World Health Organization, Uganda became the first African country to start an AIDS control program. However, Uganda was the exception on the continent. Studies found alarming rates of infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but European researchers were focused primarily on showing that AIDS came from Africa instead of offering solutions to the crisis. The stigma around AIDS and homosexuality made African governments and even scientists resistant to counting the number of people affected. These African nations feared that the association with homosexuality would make tourism decline. Uganda’s destigmatizing and educational approach made it one of the first countries to be successful at turning back the epidemic. While rates of HIV prevalence were rising across the continent, the rate in Uganda began declining in 1992.