Heroes Share Heartfelt Messages of Hope with the HIV Community

From Philadelphia to Indonesia to London, the HIV Heroes in Episode 2 share messages of hope, equality, and perseverance. 

We hear from Ciara “Ci Ci” Covin in Philadelphia who is a Program Manager with The Well Project, serving women and those most vulnerable living with HIV. She expresses, “We often will think we’re so different from the person next to us, but we oftentimes aren’t” and hopes to hear more of the HIV community “storytelling from people living their lives all over the world” to help show that we are all equal. 

Aan Rianto is the founder of Jaringan Equals Indonesia — the only community partner working with the Prevention Access Campaign to continuously promote the concept of U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable) in Indonesia. Aan works to bring hope to people living with HIV by spreading awareness for U=U. He shares, “You learn about U=U, and all of a sudden your life is back.”

Dr. Catherine Kibirige’s message is “to just keep going,”, especially for fellow minorities and women in science and tech. As a Ugandan woman in science, she tells of the “culture shock” she experienced arriving in London by way of Kenya. Through passion and perseverance, her work of improving the HIV assay test will help to improve the lives of people living with HIV worldwide, giving more people access to testing where it’s needed most and improving research capabilities.

The collective action and advocacy of Covin, Rianto, and Dr. Kibirige furthers U=U education and advances testing access to bring a message of light and hope to the worldwide HIV community.

Learn more about their stories and others at HIV Heroes.