Wyclef Jean has hit back at a recent report by academics which claimed his home country, Haiti, was a “stepping stone” for HIV/AIDS to enter the United States.

The former Fugees rapper, who now records as a solo artist, branded the research by the University of Arizona as unhelpful.

It was reported yesterday (December 3rd) that Jean issued a statement saying: “AIDS is a worldwide illness that does not discriminate. Making Haiti the scapegoat only gets in the way of world progress in AIDS research.”

Jean was born in Haiti and lived there until his parents moved to New York when he was nine.

The Caribbean country has had a well-documented, troubled past. The first black republic in the world, it is now the poorest – and one of the most violent – countries in the western hemisphere.

It also has a massive HIV/AIDS problem, with an estimated 200,000 people affected by the disease. Jean has used some of his fortune to establish the charity Yele Haiti, which aims to bring humanitarian assistance to Haiti.

His statement continued: “World AIDS Day (December 1st) is an opportunity to evoke the progress and challenges that Haiti must confront in order to fight this epidemic, but also the recent news that unjustly targeted our country and showed serious prejudice."

Jean has a new album out in the US today – called ‘The Carnival II: Memories of An Immigrant.’