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If Winnie looks familiar, and you’ve been a National AIDS Trust supporter for a while, then that’s because this isn’t the first time she has been one of the faces of our World AIDS Day campaigns. Back in 2004, she featured in one of the first photoshoots that we organised.
As Winnie recalls: “I remember vividly during that time, I was told it was a challenge to find people living with HIV to front the campaign, due to HIV stigma. So National AIDS Trust had to rethink the way to present it. Fashion models were hired and a few of us living with HIV were placed among the models to show that it was not possible to spot a person living with HIV just by looking at them.”
“And here we are, 20 years on, still talking about HIV, and still talking about the stigma surrounding it – although this year we didn’t need to rely on fashion models!”
Winnie remains an activist. She wanted to take part in this year’s campaign because she believes “it’s important, as people living with HIV, to show our faces, to communicate that, while we still have the chronic condition, many of us on HIV treatment cannot pass on HIV to anyone else. However, new HIV transmissions are still happening, mainly due to undiagnosed or untreated HIV, and this needn’t be the case”
Her advice for how we can combat stigma includes “first by starting or continuing to talk about it, within families or our social networks. It’s so important to make sure that people understand the issues, the ways that they could acquire HIV and how and how they can protect themselves.
“Stigma does a huge disservice to everyone. If people are not able to talk about their HIV diagnosis or their chronic illness, then they won’t feel able to get the help that they need.
“That’s why it is so important for us to continue to talk about it, informatively, to make sure those living with HIV are supported in the best possible ways, so that they can live to their full potential. I’m doing my bit by showing my face and saying: Here I am. This is one face of HIV, and it’s a happy face, a resilient one.”
When asked what World AIDS Day represents for her, Winnie explains that it means many different things. “We remember the millions who have died, especially the activists who helped us live; we celebrate those living with HIV and we acknowledge that there is still much more to be done to make sure everybody has access not only to effective HIV treatment, but also the support that goes alongside it.”