Jeanne Gapiya-Niyonzima | |
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| Born | 12 July 1963 Bujumbura, Burundi |
| Occupation | Human rights activist |
Jeanne Gapiya-Niyonzima (born 12 July 1963, in Bujumbura) is a human rights activist from Burundi. She is the chair and founder of the National Association for Support for HIV-Positive People with AIDS (ANSS) and was the first person from the country to publicly admit they had HIV. [1]
Gapiya-Niyonzima trained as an accountant initially, but found her first employment at a pharmacy in Burundi's capital city. [2]
In 1987, she married her husband and in 1988 when she was pregnant with her second child, her first child was diagnosed as HIV positive. [3] At her doctor's insistence her pregnancy was terminated and she was also diagnosed as HIV positive. [3] Her first child died aged eighteen months; her husband died of AIDS soon after in 1989. [3] In 1993 after the death of her sister and brother, she tested positive for HIV. [4]
In 1994, Gapiya-Niyonzima became the first person from Burundi to publicly declare that they were HIV positive. [5] This happened during a religious service, in which a sermon was delivered which stigmatised people with the disease. [5]
In 1993, Gapiya-Niyonzima founded the National Association of Support for Seropositive and AIDS Patients (ANSS). [6] It was the first civil organisation in the country to provide support and treatment, including anti-retroviral therapy, for people with HIV and AIDS within the country. [6] The ANSS promotes the prevention of the transmission of HIV/AIDS and provides support for those with the infection, however it was transmitted, and their families. [7]
In 1996, whilst Burundi was under a trade embargo, Gapiya-Niyonzima fought for the right of patients to continue to access medicines, which were being sold at exorbitant prices. [8] In 1999 she established the Turinho centre within the ANSS which provides overall support and care for those infected and affected. [9]
In April 2011 Gapiya-Niyonzima addressed the United Nations Committee for HIV/AIDS in New York City. [9] Since 2013, with the support of UNITAID, the ANSS has run a laboratory which performs its own viral loads tests. [10] Between August 2014 and November 2016, the laboratory performed 14,800 HIV viral load tests for patients on anti-retrovirals. [10] From 2013 to 2016, the ANSS performed 85% of the viral load tests carried out in Burundi. [10]
In 2016, Gapiya-Niyonzima was re-elected as president of the ANSS by its General Assembly. [11] The ANSS had at that time 6,410 members, 5,114 of whom take antiretroviral medicines. [11] She is also a board member for other NGOs active in anti-discrimination organisations, including Coalition Plus [12] and Sidaction. [13]
Gapiya-Niyonzima remarried in 1999 and she has two children. [18]