Associação de Escuteiros de Angola the Southern Zone of the Africa Region. Although Scouting is growing, the country is plagued by years of civil war and political unrest, and this is hindering development, especially in rural areas. Angolan Scouting was widespread in the colonial years, working closely with Portugal's Catholic Corpo Nacional de Escutas. When Angola gained its independence in 1975 and came under Marxist rule, Scouting was banned by that government. Scouting was officially started again in February 1991. In 1994, the interreligious "Associação Nacional de Escuteiros" and the Catholic "Associação de Escuteiros Católicos de Angola" merged forming the AEA. Today, Scouting includes an
HIV/AIDS in Angola the treatment regimen. This is seen in Angola as well, as only 39% of all individuals placed on ART are known to have been still taking it 12 months after beginning treatment. The 27-year civil war in Angola, lasting from 1975 until 2002, kept the spread of HIV to a minimum due to large parts of the country being inaccessible to people infected with the virus. During the civil war, individuals from neighboring countries such as Zambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe (all countries with high prevalence rates of HIV) were also not allowed to come into the country, which played a