No. 2 of 20 Most Amazing HIV-Positive Women: Naina Khanna

The executive director of Positive Women’s Network-USA, a national organization that prepares women living with HIV for leadership roles and supports their involvement in all levels of decision-making, Naina Khanna is a leader of leaders. A member of the steering committee for the 30 for 30 Campaign, this powerhouse sits on the board of trustees for AIDS United and is a member of the U.S. People Living With HIV Caucus. For four years, she also served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. “Naina leads by example,” says Haught. “She is an inspiration, making change and advocating for women living with HIV/AIDS. Naina is dedicated to keeping women living with HIV/AIDS included in every aspect of care, treatment, and programming…she is ensuring women are not forgotten in these efforts.”

Khanna leads PWN-USA to fight for a world where, she says, women living with HIV “can live long, healthy, dignified, and productive lives, free from stigma and discrimination.” Last year the group organized the first-ever National Leadership Summit for Women With HIV, focused on timely and critical issues and bringing together more than 200 women living with HIV from across the U.S.

Haught says, “Bringing that many women together was an incredible opportunity. Having been a woman who for years did not know any other women living with HIV, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to be in a room full of women who can understand what it is like to live with HIV.”

Khanna was also moved. “All around the country, women with HIV are standing up and fighting for our rights,” she says, “and I’m proud to be a part of that movement with so many other women who inspire me every day.”