A LIFE DEVOTED TO SUPPORTING WOMEN

Souhaila’s vocation for voluntary work runs in the family and hers stems from her mother, who lives under the same roof. Without ever abandoning her aspirations for social justice, she initially chose to study international trade. In 2000, when she was 28 years old, Souhaila found out she was HIV positive — news that marked the start of her struggle against HIV. For several years she was a healthcare mediator and provided voluntary support to persons living with HIV. With the arrival of the World Bank to Tunisia in 2007, she was behind one of the first programs to support PLHIV under ATL-MST Sida Tunis, before co-founding her own association for prevention and for the defence of the most vulnerable women in all of their diversity in 2014, the Association Tunisienne de prévention positive (ATP+). “I quickly understood that women don’t matter in Tunisia. So if the woman is a drug user, a sex worker, or HIV+ she will face even greater discrimination and fall victim to even more violence”. Souhaila dreams of policies to combat HIV that are more sensitive to gender: she has made this her mission; a goal she strives for every day.