Yasaman Ashki better known as Yassi Ashki is an Iranian health activist and the founder of
RAH Foundation and Ctrl+S website.
Life
Ashki moved from
Tehran,
Iran to the United States in 2011 to attend
Indiana University.
After reading several pamphlets about
STDs
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...
, she realized she'd never been taught about any of them. Several years later, she and her Iranian friend Narges Dorratoltaj decided to start a website about sexual health for
Persian speakers.
The website Ctrl-S was launched on Ctrlstd.com in 2014, and featured translations of about 800 articles about sexual health from the
Mayo Clinic
The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...
,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
.
The team has expanded to over 50 people and the two founders now run a nongovernmental organization; registered in the United States as RAH Foundation and registered in Iran as Ctrl+S.
They negotiated with the
Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran, and gained permission to run workshops about sexual health in Iranian mosques and schools. They also train volunteers to educate rural communities.
In 2015, they launched Hide and Seek under the RAH Foundation. It is an organization that focuses on raising awareness and education about the sexual abuse of children.
Mah-e Asal
Ashki was the guest of
Mah-e Asal (a popular live television program in Iran) on 29 May 2018 and spoke about her life and experiences. Ashki spoke about the need for
HPV vaccines in Iran and claimed she was diagnosed with HPV, an
autoimmune disorder with symptoms that are sometimes similar to AIDS in that her immune system was compromised. Watching the interview,
Rakhshān Banietemad announced her support for Ashki. Ashkit's contradicted comments were doubted and criticized by people and several sources as containing false or misleading information.
References
External links
RAH FoundationCtrl+S
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashki, Yassi
Iranian health activists
Living people
HIV/AIDS activists
Year of birth missing (living people)