Organization: Joint Adherent Brothers And Sisters Against AIDS
Region: Africa
Nationality: Uganda
Country: Uganda
Interests & expertise: Co-morbidities (NCDs, mental health, etc.)
Profession or occupation: Advocate/activist
What inspires you to work in the HIV field?
There are over 1.6 million Ugandans living with HIV. Most are women and adolescent girls and young women under the age of 15, despite women being the most active in HIV service provision. Negative norms and gender-based violence make women most vulnerable to acquiring HIV. This motivated me to work in the field of HIV. As a young woman living in Uganda, I have dedicated my life's work to reducing the incidence of HIV among women and ensuring that women living with HIV have the best access to HIV services and most favourable HIV policies.
What are your goals as an IAS change maker?
As an IAS change maker, my goal is to make sure that adolescents know about all available HIV services and how to access them at their nearest health centres to reduce the incidence of HIV among young people and women in Uganda from 50% to 20%. As an HIV Cure Academy alumni, I want to make information about ongoing HIV cure research in Africa available to adolescent girls and young women so that those living with HIV can have hope that a cure is coming soon. This will improve adherence to HIV drugs among young people and women in Uganda.