Paula Donovan is an American

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist. She is the co-executive director with

Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of those years as leade ...

of AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization that works to promote more urgent and effective global responses to

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

/AIDS. In recognition of her work in HIV/AIDS advocacy, Donovan received the Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice in 2005The Salem Award: Paula Donovan
and an alumni humanitarian award from

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

in 2007.Paula Donovan
/ref> Donovan is also an advocate for

. She called for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to create a UN agency for women with financial and political clout. Her efforts and those of others resulted in the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

passing a resolution in 2010 which supported a new consolidated body,

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...

– to be headed by an under-secretary-general – to deal with issues concerning women. The resolution merged the UN Development Fund for Women, the

Division for the Advancement of Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...

, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).UN to Establish Single New Agency to Deal with Rights of Women
/ref> Donovan previously served as a Senior Advisor in the office of the

Secretary General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa and is a 20-year veteran of international development, women's rights and HIV/AIDS. In the early '90s, she worked at

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

and ran the global advocacy campaign for

breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that br ...

. Later, she became chief aide to UNICEF's deputy executive director, and spent four years in Kenya as East and Southern Africa's Regional AIDS advisor for UNICEF.

Education

Donovan earned both her Bachelor of Arts in English in 1977 and Masters in corporate and political communications in 1988 from

References

External links

AIDS-Free World ProfileUniversity Alumni Humanitarian Award ProfileSalem Award Profile''Working to ease Africans' plight''
by Kay Lazar,

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

(September 29, 2005). {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Paula American HIV/AIDS activists Fairfield University alumni HIV/AIDS in Africa UNICEF people American officials of the United Nations American women's rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people