Health Writer
th to two healthy babies.
live with this… I was sent to see a psychologist and tried to accept this, but it wasn’t easy. I had all these questions – my grandmother tried but couldn’t answer all. I used to also have a lot of diarrhoea and my appetite would differ each day,” she added. When she was 16, she switched to pills and still currently takes one pill in the morning and two at night.
“I haven’t really had a physical problems with the current pills, just an attitude one. I was annoyed that I had to be on them. For a time, people around me would tell me that I should be happy to be alive and just take the pills, but people who are not on ARV medication don’t understand our reality,” she said. LEADING SOUTH African scientist Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim has landed a senior position within UNAids to champion the rights of children living with HIV .
In her new role as a UNAids special ambassador, she will focus on adolescents and HIV, while also championing the involvement of young women in science.
The executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, announced Professor Abdool Karim’s appointment during the launch of a new UNAids report, “Right to Health” recently. She is the current associate scientific director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa).
Abdool Karim is one of the world’s leading Aids researchers. She has made pioneering contributions to understanding the HIV epidemic among young people, especially among young women, and is a strong advocate for the rights of people living with and affected by HIV.
“I am delighted that Quarraisha Abdool Karim has accepted this position,” said Sidibé.
“A strong and consistent champion of young people living with and affected by HIV, she will use her new role to continue to translate scientific research and knowledge into people-centred solutions and prevention programmes to reduce the factors making young people so vulnerable to HIV infection. UNAIDS looks forward to supporting her work.”
Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV. There were an estimated 610 000 new HIV infections among young people aged 15 to 24 in 2016, with young women accounting for 59% of new infections among this age group.
In eastern and southern Africa, Leading light: Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim accepts top UN job
adolescents have access to the information and services that can keep them safe and well through a crucial period of their lives and into adulthood,” said Abdool Karim.
She is professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in the US, and an honorary professor in public health at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She is a member of the UNAids scientific expert panel and scientific adviser to the executive director of UNAids.
In 2013, Abdool Karim was awarded South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe, for her contribution to the response to HIV.