After losing her mother to AIDS as a child, a young woman teamed up with an American researcher to promote peer-led safe sex education and combat Botswana’s devastating HIV epidemic.
By helping the homeless find and keep housing, Vivent Health is achieving very high HIV suppression rates.
The movie Out of the Shadows is about three Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) scientists from Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sri Lanka, and follows their work to discover, develop, and deliver cures for patients who have lived in the shadow for too long.
‘In Senegal, people with HIV are subject to harsh discrimination. Mothers are hiding. They don’t want to be seen entering this pavilion. They are afraid to go to the pharmacy. They refuse to be followed up in their neighbourhood. As a result, many children living with the disease are not being detected.’
Within the current structure of the privatized healthcare system in America, it can be hugely challenging to find time and resources to reach out to underserved communities.