“Healthcare workers are an integral part of ensuring access and continued care for people living with or at risk of HIV,” IAS President Sharon Lewin said. “Whether it is a client’s first visit to a health facility or a day-to-day interaction, every single worker can enable a stigma-free and health-promoting experience. We are elated to continue this meaningful partnership with Gilead. Amplifying the Healthcare Provider Champions’ inspiring stories of their stigma-free care approach will go a long way to bringing us one step closer to an HIV stigma-free future for all.”

According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), discrimination in healthcare settings is one of the major obstacles to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 [[1]].

Launched in 2015, the Me and My Healthcare Provider campaign recognizes healthcare workers who deliver quality HIV prevention, treatment and care in the face of discriminatory laws and stigmatizing traditions and belief systems. The campaign aims to build a better understanding of what motivates Healthcare Provider Champions to provide inclusive and stigma-free services, further illuminating information-based and skills-building strategies adopted in local healthcare settings to enable inclusive care [[2]]. By highlighting their stories, the campaign ultimately hopes to encourage replication and empower other healthcare providers to raise their voices against stigma.

“To fully embrace our client-centric care approach, we need to tackle stigma and discrimination,” Belinda Jump, Executive Director, Medical Affairs Head, Intercontinental Region, Gilead Sciences, said. “We are honored to collaborate once again with the IAS on the Me and My Healthcare Provider campaign to recognize exemplary role models in the healthcare setting. Through our partnership, we are committed to providing a platform to amplify their voices with the hopes of inspiring and empowering the healthcare community to confront stigma head-on.”

This year, the campaign is expanding to include a USD 20,000 seed grant to organizations based in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. This will support the co-design and implementation of a local campaign, as well as work with the 2023 Healthcare Champion pairs to enhance training activities for healthcare workers to promote stigma-free service delivery in their communities. Find out more here; proposals are welcomed now until 25 November 2022.

Nominations for 2023 Healthcare Provider Champions from Brazil, Hong Kong, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan will open in early 2023. Champions and their nominators will be announced at IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science, in Brisbane, Australia, where they will also be invited to attend a broad range of stigma-related events to share their best practice examples.