Peter Mogere

Peter currently oversees several HIV self-testing (HIVST) and PrEP delivery studies being implemented in collaboration with government and private facilities. He is a regulatory affairs specialist in the conduct of clinical trials and currently works as the pharmacy lead and project coordinator for several studies as well as the lead of a regulatory docket. Peter is also the Secretary General of the Kenya Pharmaceutical Association (KPA) and a health research advocate.

Fellowship Focus
Peter has championed HIVST as part of the PrEP package and the first 90 (out of the 90-90-90 treatment targets). He helped to successfully draft and shepherd the launch of Kenya’s HIVST guidelines and PrEP Framework inclusive of HIVST. He then led the sensitization of health workers and demand creation for self-testing through the media. Peter also lobbied the government to provide HIV self-testing kits free of charge with support from Global Fund and PEPFAR and in the private sector at cost. With the guidelines in place and government commitment to HIV self-testing scale-up, Peter continues to advocate for the broader rollout of the kits by the government, monitoring the processes of both domestic and external funding for the continuity of the programs. As a result of his work, he’s now coordinating a demonstration project at his host organization in Thika to explore how HIVST impacts PrEP uptake.

In Their Own Words
Advocacy isn’t about just making noise, but helping to find solutions. As a healthcare provider with experience in research and PrEP delivery, I helped translate the scientific jargon to simple, understandable language that could be understood by different groups. By providing the right information on the products and different strategies, I helped advocates to champion for issue-based campaigns.

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Grace Kumwenda

Advocacy Accomplishments for the Year

During Grace’s Fellowship project year, she led the drafting of PrEP guidelines for Malawi’s Ministry of Health, ensuring the inclusion of PrEP for key populations in the 2018 treatment guidelines. Grace also identified the need for viral load testing as a key advocacy gap in Malawi where she worked on demand creation for its scale up. Her proven leadership as a Fellow facilitated her selection to be co-investigator for Malawi’s first PrEP demonstration study for sex workers. Grace’s work also paved the way for her organization Pakachere to become a selected member of the newly formed Global Coalition for HIV Prevention.

In Her Own Words

The project has changed my perception of advocacy totally. The fellowship year taught me the power of one’s voice, the power of coordinating with others to strengthen that voice and most importantly I learnt the importance of evidence, data and learning. I come out of the fellowship believing that I CAN influence change unthinkable, believing that I don’t need to be a medical doctor to be a bio-medical prevention advocate. I have learnt that advocacy is about talking to the right people in the right forums and that no voice is small!

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Bathabile Nyathi

Bathabile still works with the CeSHARR sex work program in Zimbabwe and is also the vice chairperson and co-founder of a sex worker-led organisation, Women Against All Forms of Discrimination (WAAD). She started sex work at the age of fourteen. After noticing that most sex workers believe that they are already HIV positive or will eventually become so because of the nature of their work, she dedicated her life to empowering her peers. When she tested HIV-negative, she started taking PrEP and has made it her calling to mobilize sex workers to seek and access PrEP and other relevant services to remain healthy.

Fellowship Focus
Sinikwe and Bathabile’s work together focused on sex workers’ acceptance of PrEP ahead of Zimbabwe’s national rollout. They worked with young sex workers, conducting over 50 community dialogues across the country, joined the Ministry of Health’s Technical Working Group on PrEP and engaged health workers, the police, church members and male partners to pave the way for culturally competent PrEP services, free of harassment and/or discrimination. They spoke on radio talk shows and drafted a position paper targeted at the Ministry of Health to emphasize the need for PrEP for young women and adolescent girls as an integral part of Zimbabwe’s comprehensive HIV prevention response.

In Their Own Words
I had feared to be stigmatized or that some would not allow their young women to attend the dialogues I organized, as a sex worker. But I think I managed to keep the demand on PrEP and I ensured that I provided support to everyone who needed information about the pill.

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Sinikwe “Nikki” Mtetwa

Sinikwe is a passionate women’s health and rights advocate who has been involved for more than a decade on issues around HIV and sexual reproductive health and rights. She has done extensive work with female sex workers at CeSHHAR to ensure that they are part of HIV interventions developed for them. She is currently involved in the AMETHIST Study at CeSHHAR Zimbabwe.

Fellowship Focus
Bathabile and Sinikwe worked together and focused on sex workers’ acceptance of PrEP ahead of Zimbabwe’s national rollout. They worked with young sex workers, conducting over 50 community dialogues across the country, joined the Ministry of Health’s Technical Working Group on PrEP and engaged health workers, the police, church members and male partners to pave the way for culturally competent PrEP services, free of harassment and/or discrimination. They spoke on radio talk shows and drafted a position paper targeted at the Ministry of Health to emphasize the need for PrEP for young women and adolescent girls as an integral part of Zimbabwe’s comprehensive HIV prevention response.

In Their Own Words
We also learned that using every available resource tool when advocating is beneficial, e.g., the media, as targeted groups and the communities in which they live are reached with information. Personally, when I am passionate about something or against some injustice, it usually end in doing things in anger or haste. Now, as an advocate, I have the capacity to clearly map the way I want to deliver certain information to exert change. I now recognize the importance of identifying a gap, a challenge, a hindrance etc. to change and deal with it.

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Kennedy Mupeli

Kennedy is currently engaged in science literacy training for civil society organizations for people living with HIV and in national U=U campaigns. He became involved in grassroots AIDS activism after going public about his HIV status in 1998. Although not a scientist, he is passionate about biomedical research. He has been involved in efforts for greater involvement of people living with HIV and more recently on issues of access to treatment and biomedical prevention interventions.

Fellowship Focus
Kennedy formed the first PrEP advocacy coalition in Botswana: PrEP Watch Botswana. He joined the Ministry of Health’s PrEP Technical Working Group, where he catalyzed the drafting of PrEP guidelines and funding for PrEP implementation. He worked closely with communities to introduce PrEP information across the country, generating awareness, demand and advocacy for its implementation. He also identified and supported a PrEP ambassador to champion PrEP and be the public face of PrEP. As a result of his successful PrEP campaigning, Kennedy was invited to write a weekly column on HIV for the Midweek Sun newspaper. His coalition continues to advocate for PrEP rollout as well as the dapivirine ring and other biomedical prevention. He also helped to set up a pioneer health journalists coalition in Botswana to keep HIV/AIDS and other health issues at the forefront of their coverage.

In Their Own Words
During my early years of advocacy, I was exposed to a more radical advocacy approach. I have since learned that sometimes diplomacy is an equally effective approach to influence change. You only need a plan with realistic objectives and evidence. Intensive literature review is also vital for a successful advocacy project. I had all this and it worked for me. I was able to work within the ranks of the Ministry of Health (technical working group) to influence change, and change has happened and is still happening.

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Moses “Supercharger” Nsubuga

Moses is a musician, radio and TV presenter and HIV advocate who has lived with HIV since 1994. He has used the courage from the early days of his diagnosis to propel himself to the global stage as one of the most formidable HIV prevention, treatment and cure research community advocates. He currently chairs the Joint Clinical Research Centre’s Community Advisory Board and represents the African community on the ACTG, INSIGHT and AIGHD boards. He is currently training new prevention and cure research advocates and is also fundraising and constructing an HIV treatment and adherence center in Uganda.

Fellowship Focus
Moses’ Fellowship advocacy objective was twofold: to campaign for widespread use of viral load testing along with third-line treatment for those with ARV drug resistance and to put the need for cure research front and center in Uganda. He achieved the commitment of third-line therapy with support from PEPFAR. He also created the CRAG (Cure Research Advocacy Group) and co-hosted Africa’s first cure meeting for civil society advocates with IAS and AVAC. He projected the need for cure research through his radio program, and as a musician, has spread the word through songs about HIV drug resistance.

In Their Own Words
I will continue with my advocacy and spread the gospel to end the epidemic in every area. I hope to continue organizing cure meetings and plan to lobby IAS to take the cure academy to West Africa. I continue to lobby the Ministry of Health to regionalize third-line services and promote adherence interventions.

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Moses was featured in a BBC World Service podcast. Listen to “Travelling Home Next to My Coffin”. He also appears in an article “I was diagnosed with HIV 25 years ago” in The Daily Monitor.

Thuthukile Mbatha

Advocacy Accomplishments for the Year

Thuthu advocated for PrEP implementation among higher education institutions throughout South Africa, while mobilizing students to become PrEP advocates themselves. With Thuthu’s support, students from the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban University of Technology, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Witswatersand, University of Johannesburg and Rosebank College started programmes in their respective campuses to create sustainable PrEP awareness. Thuthu also guest-edited an entire issue of Treatment Action Campaign and Section 27’s joint publication Spotlight where she shined a light on young women’s reproductive health.

In Her Own Words

I never knew how important advocates are from the invention of HIV prevention products until they get into the hands of end users. Also, the students’ eagerness to be part of my advocacy project was very heart warming. They came up with different strategies to try to reach other students to share the information with them. They led by example, initiating on PrEP so that they can share their experiences with other students through the peer education programme. That was one of many highlights for me.

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