WORLD Contact: Cynthia Carey-Grant, Executive Director, [email protected] 510.986.0340
PWN-USA Contact: Naina Khanna, Executive Director, [email protected] 510.681.1169
Women’s HIV Advocacy Organizations Continue Building Leadership
Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Diseases (WORLD) and the Positive Women’s Network-United States of America (PWN- USA), which became an autonomous entity in early 2013, announce their respective intentions to continue developing leadership and advocacy for HIV+ women in the United States.
The Positive Women’s Network was launched in 2008 as a project of WORLD after a meeting of 28 diverse HIV-positive women leaders. PWN-USA was created to develop a leadership pipeline and policy agenda that applies a gender lens to the domestic HIV epidemic grounded in social justice and human rights. PWN-USA’s mission is to prepare and involve HIV-positive women, including transgender women, in all levels of policy and decision-making to improve the quality of women’s lives.
Founded in 1991, WORLD’s mission is to improve the lives and health of women, girls, families and communities affected by HIV through peer-based education, wellness services, advocacy, and leadership development. For more than 20 years, WORLD has served thousands of women, including women who are not in care, women who hide their HIV status for fear of rejection and even violence, and women who have nowhere else to turn.
From 2008 to 2013 WORLD provided an organizational home for positive women’s collective leadership as they grew into the Positive Women’s Network – United States of America. WORLD congratulates PWN-USA on this exciting new chapter and wishes PWN-USA much success. PWN-USA is thankful to WORLD for their support. The two organizations look forward to continuing the fight for HIV-positive women and breaking down barriers to service and justice.
For more information, visit PWN-USA’s website at www.pwn-usa.org and WORLD’s website at http://womenhiv.wpengine.com.