The soul at the heart of fighting HIV/AIDS scourge

A nurse by training, Lydia has been at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS as UNDP Botswana HIV/AIDS Programme Manager for the last seven years. In this capacity she has seen it all in as far initiatives of fighting the pandemic are concerned. She is so far the longest serving HIV/AIDS programme manager since it was introduced as an UNDP thematic area of development.

"It is really challenging working in an area which is forever changing," she says. First of all when HIV/AIDS first emerged, it was treated as an adult diseases contracted through sexual intercourse. But it was later realised that the scourge actually hits all spheres of human development, including children, hence we at UNDP treat it as a development issue," says.