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= Noerine Kaleeba = From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Noerine Kaleeba at Concord AidWatch 2009 Noerine Kaleeba is an Ugandan physiotherapist and educator and AIDS activist. She is the co-founder of the Aids activism group "The AIDS Support Organization" (TASO). She is currently a program development adviser for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). She is also the Patron of TASO.

Contents
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 * 1 Background
 * Behind the Founding of the TASO
 * Current Life
 * Accomplishments
 * 2 See also
 * 3 External links
 * 4 References

Background[edit]
Noerine Kaleeba specialized in orthopaedics, physiotherapy and community rehabilitation at Makerere University in Kampala, and the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic & District Hospital in Oswestry, England. She has worked as a physiotherapist at Mulago Hospital, and was the principal of Mulago School of Physiotherapy until 1987.

Behind the Founding of the Foundation
June 1986, Kaleeba received a call that changed her life. The call was that her husband, Christopher, had become very sick while he was in England working on his masters in sociology and political science. He was diagnosed with AIDS, making him very sick. His sickness, which was followed by death in January 1987, was the start of Kaleeba's drive to founding a support group, "The AIDS Support Organization" (TASO).

Even though she was upset and in denial about her husband's diagnostic at first, these feelings are what triggered Kaleeba's desire to start the TASO. The idea behind the organization was to be able to give the hope and support they need while fighting through this journey. The pain that people go through and the pain Kaleeba witnessed with her husband, the organization does not want people to feel miserable. Being able to know that you have people standing beside you, it gives people fighting this battle hope.

In 1987, the TASO is an organization that was founded by Kaleeba and 15 other people, those who were affected by AIDS, someway or some how. Even though 12 out of the 15 other people who helped start this organization, the goal is to help people through the process. The organization provides families of those who are infected with information about the disease and ways to provide care, without becoming infected with the disease as well. The organization also provides care, support and counseling, as well as to mobilize communities and neighborhood care for people with HIV/AIDS and their families. Based on the concept of "positive living", TASO was one of the very first community responses to AIDS in Africa and is today one of the leading examples in AIDS care and support and community education for prevention in resource-limited settings. Kaleeba worked as the Executive Director of TASO Uganda for eight years until 1995 when she retired, and was elected Patron of the TASO movement.

Current
Kaleeba still holds the position of Patron of the TASO movement and currently works as a program development adviser, Africa, for the "Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS" (UNAIDS). Since January 1996, she remains based at their secretariat in Geneva.

Accomplishments
Kaleeba has been awarded several international awards in recognition of her national and global anti-AIDS efforts, including:


 * The Belgian International King Baudouin Prize for Development, awarded to TASO in 1995
 * Doctor of Humane Letters, Honorius Causa, in 2000

She has served on various national and international bodies, including:


 * Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Nkumba University, Uganda, 2002
 * Doctor of Law degree at the University of Dundee, Scotland, 2005
 * Honorary Doctorate of International Relations (DIR) by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, University of Switzerland, June 2009
 * The World Health Organization Global Commission on HIV/AIDS
 * The Global AIDS Policy Coalition
 * The Uganda AIDS Commission.
 * Chairperson for Action Aid International (2009)

She has been a trustee of international NGO boards such as Maristopes International, Noah's Ark (Sweden).

Her book, We Miss You All: AIDS In The Family is a touching account of how HIV/AIDS came into her life, and how she came to be on the front lines fighting the disease.

See also[edit]

 * HIV/AIDS in Uganda
 * Uganda AIDS Orphan Children Foundation

External links[edit]

 * TASO website