A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at the Aids 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screenshots and posted them online.

Reuters viewed a video of the presentation given by Jeff Graham, the top US health envoy overseeing Pepfar, which showed the errant map displayed halfway through a talk about new health agreements. Analysis found the image contained an AI watermark indicating it was made with OpenAI tools.

The map showed Nigeria, where the US has several hundred troops deployed, as landlocked in the Sahara desert. Mozambique was relocated to the Horn of Africa, while Côte d'Ivoire was placed on the opposite side of the continent. The State Department said it took 'full responsibility' and that the map was hastily changed by a team member before the event.

Screenshots first appeared in a Substack post by AIDS expert Emily Bass and were widely shared on LinkedIn, with one post garnering about 40,000 views. Matt Petit of the Atlantic Council wrote: 'Whoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work.'

Despite the map, the State Department said discussions were 'substantive and constructive' and reaffirmed commitment to fighting AIDS. Pepfar's core work, including life-saving drugs, has largely resumed after last year's funding pause, but the US is scaling back prevention and surveillance spending and plans to phase out the program in South Africa.

Source: www.theguardian.com