HIV HERO Honourees
Supported by our Community Partner – APN+
Aan Rianto
Indonesia
Having lived with HIV since 2015, I was inspired to become an HIV activist in 2018 when I came across literature on U=U. I then founded Jaringan Equals Indonesia (Equals_id), a community partner of the Prevention Access Campaign that continuously supports the promotion of U=U in Indonesia. I advocate for supporting and educating the local community on HIV with a positive outlook to minimize stigmas. I promote U=U as a means to combat fears that are prevalent in Indonesia.
“I am so proud because I would have a chance to be a voice for my community.”
Ali Raza Khan
Pakistan
My name is Ali Raza Khan and I’m a 28-year-old PLHIV activist working for my community. I live in Multan, a small but culturally rich town of Pakistan also known as the City of Saints. I started working for HIV awareness and prevention in 2015 from my university days as volunteer of HYPE national youth group of Rutgers in Pakistan. I continued my volunteer work for the community along with different organizations including FDI, Aahung, ACT, ISYD, YAN, KSS and APLHIV. I started my full-time job for PLHIV withTrans Welfare Organization, a CBO working for HIV among the TG community. TWOCBO provided me the opportunity to speak about the PLHIV community. Later, I joined Wasaib Sanwaro, a CBO working for MSM and amplified my efforts by representing PLHIVs at international platforms. I started my own initiative “Hi Voices” due to the lack of any dedicated platform for the empowerment of YPLHIVs and because many PLHIVs lack the required skills and knowledge to raise their voices.
“I felt happy to be nominated for the HIV HERO award. I see this as an appreciation and encouragement to continue my work for the community, irrespective of how harsh the conditions on the ground are. I felt excited about this award because there are very few people and platforms to support and appreciate the work of PLHIVs as HERO Award is doing.”
