IAS – the International AIDS Society – in partnership with Gilead Sciences, announced 18 Champions of the 2023 Me and My Healthcare Provider (MMHCP) campaign from Brazil, Hong Kong, Mexico and Taiwan. This distinguished award celebrates frontline healthcare workers who have made a difference in the lives of people living with HIV by delivering stigma-free HIV prevention, treatment, and care services.
The Me and My Healthcare Provider campaign is driven by key populations affected by HIV, giving them an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of healthcare providers who have made a tangible difference in their lives. By highlighting their stories, the campaign hopes to encourage replication and empower other healthcare providers to raise their voices against stigma. Since 2021, the IAS has been in a collaborative partnership with Gilead Sciences to launch MMHCP in Brazil, Hong Kong, Mexico and Taiwan.
This year, four Hong Kong healthcare providers have been chosen as the champions:
- Tsang Tak Yin
- Wilson Lam
- To Ki Wai
- Shan Chan
Detailed stories of their contributions will be shared through interviews, videos and workshops.
The 2023 MMHCP Champions and their nominators will be honoured at IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science, in Brisbane, Australia, where they will also be invited to engage in a broad range of stigma-related events to share their best practice examples.
The IAS also debuts the Stigma-free services cookbook in seven languages, capturing learnings from the real-life stories, challenges, and triumphs of past MMHCP Champions, showcasing ideas for how to build an inclusive and stigma-free healthcare setting for HIV services.
Drawing from real-life stories and advice from former Champions and nominators of the MMHCP campaign since 2016, the Stigma-free services cookbook provides “ingredients” for managers and health system planners, healthcare workers and users of health services to do right in nurturing and facilitating an environment that is free of HIV stigma. To widen the accessibility of this resource, the cookbook is available in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese. It will also be translated into other languages.
To find out more about the 2023 MMHCP Champions and download the IAS Stigma-free services cookbook, please visit https://www.iasociety.org/me-and-my-healthcare-provider.
For champions in other countries and districts, please check this out at: https://www.iasociety.org/me-and-my-healthcare-provider
About the International Aids Society
IAS – the International AIDS Society – convenes, educates and advocates for a world in which HIV no longer presents a threat to public health and individual well-being. After the emergence of HIV and AIDS, concerned scientists created the IAS to bring together experts from across the world and disciplines to promote a concerted HIV response. Today, the IAS and its members unite scientists, policy makers and activists to galvanize the scientific response, build global solidarity and enhance human dignity for all those living with and affected by HIV. The IAS also hosts the world’s most prestigious HIV conferences: the International AIDS Conference, the IAS Conference on HIV Science and the HIV Research for Prevention Conference.
About Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that has pursued and achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades, with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19, and cancer.
For more than 30 years, Gilead has been a leading innovator in the field of HIV, driving advances in treatment, prevention and cure research. Today, millions of people living with HIV globally receive antiretroviral therapy provided by Gilead or one of the company’s manufacturing partners.