Sarah is currently pursuing an MPH/MBA dual degree student at Bloomberg School of Public Health and Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University. She has worked among female sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender persons across Southern Karnataka in India. Her work has focused on advocating for the inclusion of PrEP as part of combination prevention in the national HIV prevention policy. Sarah has also implemented a community-led approach to battling tuberculosis.

Fellowship Focus
While PrEP has been well received in India’s demonstration studies, it has also cultivated a groundswell of demand among the sex worker community at large. Sarah built political and community support for broader PrEP rollout. She mobilized stakeholders and directly participated in the development of India’s draft PrEP policy and guidelines, helping to ensure that they were inclusive of sex workers’ needs. She trained leading sex worker advocates in five states to pressure their State AIDS Control Societies for PrEP rollout and sensitized national media to report on the need for PrEP.

In Their Own Words
Map your field–allies, obstructures and the indifferent. Know their strengths and weaknesses. Every person can be a useful contributor in your efforts. There are no permanent friends or foes in advocacy.