On International Women’s Day, we honour the resilience, leadership, and lived experiences of women who have lived with HIV for decades. Their stories challenge stigma and shape the future of HIV advocacy.
At EATG, these voices are central to our new project “Long-Term Survivors of HIV – Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future.” Through storytelling, dialogue, and collaboration, the initiative brings together long-term and lifetime survivors to document their experiences and transform them into tools for advocacy, education, and system change. Their lived experiences will form a shared “Legacy Chest” of narratives that help guide better care, research, and policy for people ageing with HIV.
Today, we amplify the voices of women whose journeys embody this legacy:
Living long-term with HIV as a woman means resisting stigma rooted in misogyny, sexism, racism, and medical patriarchy. On International Women’s Day, we honour the lives of women living with HIV, demanding equitable healthcare, bodily autonomy, pleasure without shame, and leadership in research and policy. Our lives are not cautionary tales; they are blueprints for justice.
Dr. Nicoletta Policek, Executive Director, EATG
As a woman living long-term with HIV for 35 years, I embody resilience. I have loved, led, and lived beyond stigma and silence. My journey holds grief and gratitude, loss and legacy. On International Women’s Day, I stand as proof: women with HIV are not surviving—we are shaping history.
Linda H. Scruggs, Co-Executive Director, Ribbon – A Center of Excellence
For more than two decades, I have lived with HIV as a woman, a mother, and an advocate. I have learned that stigma weakens in the presence of courage. Living openly is not only freedom for myself, but it is a light for those who are still searching for hope.
Olimbi Hoxhaj, Executive Director, PLWHA Albanian Association
Women living with HIV are not only survivors of an epidemic, they are historians, leaders, and architects of a more just HIV response.
This International Women’s Day, we honour their past, amplify their present, and commit to a future where their voices continue to guide research, care, and policy.
Learn more about the project: https://www.eatg.org/projects/long-term-survivors-of-hiv/
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