Listen Now: 
The director of New Zealand’s Maori, Indigenous and South Pacific HIV/AIDS foundation INA, Marama Pala, has been named in an international list of 15 HIV advocates to watch.
Mark King from the My Fabulous Disease blog says all the people on his list have shown a fierce devotion to HIV issues and a commitment to leave their mark on 2015.
He says Ms Pala was the first Maori woman to publicly disclose her HIV status, and her bravery has resulted in her becoming a powerful advocate for Maori and marginalized people.
She serves on a multitude of foundations and networks devoted to raising the voices of indigenous peoples around the world and has held key positions in the planning of the last several international AIDS conferences.
Ms Pala says the rise of HIV infections among indigenous populations is a concern internationally, and it’s significant that someone from the south Pacific can make such a list.
"Indigenous People are those directly descended from a land that they have no political power over. Asking for consideration as a vulnerable population reveals another layer of discrimination and racism that speaks to the overall injustice of being born indigenous," she says.
"For generations indigenous peoples have suffered a genocidal impact from diseases ranging from influenza to small pox. HIV is a modern day scourge that is harder to fight because it involves sex a culturally taboo subject."
Ms Pala was recently appointed to the Community Delegation of the Global Fund for HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and is the Vice-Chair of the International Community Women living with HIV Global Committee.www.iamicw.org.
As well as holding board positions for the International Council of AIDS Service organisations www.icaso.org and Co-Chair of International Indigenous Working Group on HIV andAIDS www.iiwgha.org .
Copyright © 2015, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
