Global Lessons, Local Actions: Maureen Owino

Maureen Owino is a force. An HIV/AIDS activist and scholar, Maureen has been working in the HIV sector in Canada for over 15 years - most recently as the Director of the Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment (CAAT).
Canada is lacking in services, organizations and frameworks for women living with HIV. Maureen attributes this to the lack of support from women’s counterparts in the HIV/AIDS response.
“Being real allies means speaking truth to power. Standing up even when it's the most challenging thing to do. Standing up without fear of losing your privilege, or losing your voice,” says Maureen. “I have never stood in a place where I have seen gay white men stand up for women. I have not seen gay white men speak up for Black people publicly. I have not seen the men in this movement stand up and ask why it is we have no services for women. I still am waiting. I want to see them stand up and say it's time we fought for our women. Because the women have been with you every step of the way.”
Maureen is addressing the gap in services for women as a co-creator and co-founder of WomenSpeak, the first national network for women Living with HIV. “Our main objective is to do a national needs assessment for women living with HIV to find out what gaps exist, gaps in services, gaps in healthcare, gaps in research - to ensure that within the next five years we will now have different organizations for women; different frameworks of interventions and strategies specifically for women living with HIV nationally.”
Links
paninbc.ca/2022/03/09/women-s...

[@lopezsamuel]

I have never been in a place where poz bipoc people don’t stand up for other poz bipoc