Globe and Mail reports on death of Zambian HIV/AIDS advocate Winstone Zulu

Oct 18 2011

Toronto's Globe and Mail reports on the death on Thursday of Winstone Zulu, an HIV/AIDS advocate from Zambia who lived with the virus for two decades. "His death has devastated the international community of AIDS activists," the newspaper writes, adding, "Winstone was a one-man force who played a key role in reshaping the global response to HIV/AIDS and [tuberculosis (TB)]. He personally lobbied every G8 leader; he spoke to mass rallies on five continents; he inspired audiences at schools and in churches and in parliaments in dozens of countries."

The newspaper outlines some of Winstone's achievements, including assisting in the 1994 drafting of the Paris Declaration, which enshrined the idea of legal protection from discrimination for people with HIV; taking part in the 1996 meeting in Como, Italy, at which UNAIDS was founded; and helping "to organize what was perhaps the most seminal AIDS gathering of the past 25 years: the 1996 conference in Vancouver where David Ho announced that he had successfully suppressed HIV using a cocktail of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs" (Nolen, 10/14).