Dee Mphafi: Fighting for an AIDS-Free Generation
Sharing Her Story
Dee Mphafi is a peer counselor for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in Lesotho. In this role, she empowers adolescent girls to access HIV services and develop life skills so that they stay healthy and strong.
After she tested positive for HIV at age 17, Dee was surprised by the lack of support she received—even at health facilities. But she found a more welcoming environment at an EGPAF peer support group.
“This is where they have young people living with HIV share their stories, try to talk to each other as young people about their daily challenges and try to help each other disclose to their partners or their parents,” says Dee. She now offers her support to adolescent groups across Lesotho.
“Basically, I tell people my story to just let them relax and show them that being HIV positive is nothing, really. It’s just a matter of having to be more cautious about your life, having to take your medication every day.”
Recently, Dee traveled to several cities in the United States to share her experience as a young woman living with HIV—and as a health worker on the front lines of care in Lesotho, where AIDS is the leading cause of death.
In Conversation with the CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invited Dee to spend a day with them in Atlanta to share her firsthand experience with HIV programs. Dee shared some of the challenges young people have in Lesotho, including low initiation on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which an HIV-free partner can take to substantially reduce the risk of being infected with HIV. She also talked about the magnified role of stigma for adolescents affected by HIV.
“I think it’s really important to have people like me who are young and HIV-positive to have a chance to say what they think about all these things,” Dee said.
Minesh P. Shah, M.D., lieutenant commander of the United States Public Health Service thanked Dee for sharing her story. “We are getting closer to ending the epidemic every day,” he told her, “but the last steps are the hardest. Creativity around service delivery on the ground from people like yourself is what will push us over the finish line.”
A Time for Heroes in Los Angeles
Next, Dee attended “A Time for Heroes” in Los Angeles. This annual event gives kids and families a day of fun while they rally around the cause of ending AIDS in children. On the A Time For Heroes stage, Dee shared that antiretroviral medications, along with family and community support, saved her life. Dee honored EGPAF co-founders Susie Zeegen and Susan DeLaurentis, as well as ViiV Healthcare, an EGPAF partner and honoree. Dee also connected with other young EGPAF leaders.
“It was easy to talk to them, and we kind of clicked at the go,” she explained. “To have other ambassadors who were even born with HIV, and they’re so grown, and so successful—now they are kind of an inspiration to me.”
Advocacy on Capitol Hill:
After A Time for Heroes, Dee flew to EGPAF headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she attended the EGPAF board meeting to share her perspective from the field. She also took her message to Capitol Hill, meeting with the staff of key U.S. representatives.
Dee shared that stigma can be a major barrier to accessing HIV services, and that EGPAF’s Adolescent Corners have been crucial in helping young people to open up, not feel judged, and get the care they need. She explained that much of the discrimination against young people living with HIV comes from other young people. She also emphasized the importance of continued U.S. leadership in ending the epidemic.
“You Need to Show How Powerful You Are.”
As a peer counselor, Dee has many tools available to her—but she has consistently found that one of the most powerful is her own voice. Her mission is to teach others to use that same power, with the message to other young people: “You need to stand together, you need to know what your rights are—but still you need to know what your responsibilities are. You need to stand up, and work for it.”
To other young Basothos Dee says, “You are actually the backbone of everything that is happening where you are. And you need to show that you are there. You need to show how powerful you are. You need to show that the naiveness that all people think you have can really work for the better.”
Team EGPAF
Lesotho; United States
General
