Josephine Nabukenya
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Josephine Nabukenya | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1993 (age 32–33) Kampala, Uganda |
| Alma mater | Makarere University |
| Occupation | Social activist |
Josephine Nabukenya is a Ugandan HIV/AIDS activist who is also living with HIV/AIDS.[1] She serves as a Stephen Lewis Foundation Youth program coordinator at Makerere University Johns Hopkins University (MUJHU). She was awarded the Queen’s Young Leader Award in 2016 for her advocacy work.[2][3][4] She is also an Ambassador at Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)'s Ariel Club.[1] She is one of the young leaders who grew from being timid to a resilient and powerful young leader who encourages other children to live positively and take their pills.[5]
Josephine Nabukenya was born in 1993 in Kampala. Her mother was HIV positive and passed the condition onto her daughters. Nabukenya only learnt of this in 2001, at age eight, when her mother, terminally ill from HIV complications, wrote a last will, reasoning that she kept it a secret because HIV treatment would never be available to either of them. Nabukenya ultimately survived due to emergency antiretroviral therapy at Makerere University.[6] Herself including her mother, father, and younger sister are all having HIV however both Josephine and her sister got infected at birth.[2]
In 2004, when the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) began providing HIV/AIDS treatment in Uganda,[6] she made her health status public, she began seeking treatment.[2] Her mother became a community health worker to advise other women with HIV/AIDS on getting treatment to ensure future pregnancies carry no risk of HIV infection.[6] Josephine was introduced to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s Ariel Club shortly when she had begun an antiretroviral therapy at a local hospital.[2] She later became an Ariel Club facilitator, leading sessions to help other children accept their own HIV status and seek the treatment they needed to stay healthy.[2] During her time at Ariel, she used her story to help guide others to overcome the challenges of a life with HIV.[2] She also used her confidence in the promise of her own life which grew stronger.[2] As of today Josephine has continued to speak out as an Ambassador for EGPAF through her work with Ariel Clubs in Uganda to speak in front of members of the U.S. Congress.[2] Her story continues to inspires other people to learn about HIV and fight the stigma and discrimination around the disease.[2]
Josephine Nabukenya watched her mother, Margaret Lubega, battle with illness and she decided one day to go to Mulago National Referral Hospital where she asked to be tested. Although, she was too young to realise what was taking place and only recalls going to Mulago National Referral Hospital and playing with children she found there as they shared cake and soft drinks.[7]
She started Young General Alive (YGA), an organisation that initially constituted Lubega, another mother and her child and another patient they had met at Mulago hospital during a visit. In 2005, Makerere University - Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration (Mujhu) helped them to formalise their group.[5]
Education
She is a degree holder in Social Work from Makerere University in Kampala.[2]
Career life
In 2005, under EGPAF, she represented children both infected and affected by HIV/aids in the US congress.[5]