As an 18-year-old, Anita Isaacs risked her life to end racial apartheid in her country by fighting for Namibia's independence from South Africa. More than ten years later, she returned to a country independent of colonial rule but facing the beginning of an HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1996 Anita contracted HIV from her husband and found herself with an opportunity to join another fight- the war against the spread of HIV/AIDS and its stigma. In the years since her initial diagnosis, Anita has founded support groups, registered thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS, and become a national figurehead for HIV/AIDS activism. Her life story conveys the prevalence of AIDS as a women's issue in a way that educates and instills in others the importance of promoting change through dialogue and global activism.
—Erin Barnett