24 year-old Zimbabwean Activist Speaks At UN General Assembly On Ending AIDS

At a high-level meeting on ending AIDS that opened at the United Nations General Assembly today, Member States adopted a new political declaration that includes a set of time bound targets to fast-track the pace of progress towards combating the worldwide scourge of HIV and AIDS over the next five years and end the epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.

Participants at the meeting also heard from Loyce Matura, a 24-year-old activist living in Zimbabwe who was nominated by  the HLM Stakeholder Task Force, she shared her story about being born with HIV and later contracting tuberculosis.

Ms. Matura stressed that among the barriers that hinder progress in combating the AIDS epidemic are stigma and access by people living with and affected by the disease to treatment, care and support services.

”For us to accelerate ending AIDS among adolescents and young people, there is a need to invest in evidence-based adherence support interventions,” she said.