In the HIV response globally, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) leads the way in ensuring that HIV is no longer a public health threat by 2030.

With offices in about 70 countries, UNAIDS is a model for United Nations reform and is the only cosponsored Joint Programme in the United Nations system (UNAIDS, 2022).

UNAIDS is led by an Executive Director (ED), with the current ED being Winnie Byanyima. I had always followed Winnie’s activism and admired her leadership. Being a doctoral researcher and community development worker in the field of HIV, it was like a dream come true when I saw her briefly at the 24th International AIDS Conference (International AIDS Conference ) in Montreal, Canada. I thanked her for her good work and requested a photo. She agreed.

It is not every day that the ED of UNAIDS calls someone an “AMAZING LEADER”.

In her words, she said this about AAP: “𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑨 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑭𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒏! 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 #𝑬𝒏𝒅𝑨𝑰𝑫𝑺 #𝑨𝑰𝑫𝑺2022”

This is the type of commendation you put on a frame forever. Pardon me for being so excited. This is how those of us growing in this space behave when leaders like Winnie use weighty words on us.😀.

Thank you Winnie.

Indeed, we will END AIDS.

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