Anne-Christine d'Adesky
Encyclopedia
Anne-Christine d'Adesky is a journalist
, author
, documentary
filmmaker, activist and human rights
advocate.
in Haiti
working as a stringer for newspapers including the San Francisco Examiner and later, the Village Voice. Here, she began writing about HIV
which had emerged as a new epidemic in Haiti and the USA. She wrote about HIV/AIDS for various newspapers, including the New York Native
, In These Times
, and later magazines including The Advocate
. She has focused instead on intensive investigation into the stolen fortune of deposed Haitian dictator 'Baby' Doc Duvalier, collaborating with the Center for Constitutional Rights
.
She was Senior Editor at Out
magazine in the mid 1990s in charge of health coverage, and also wrote investigative features and long-form profiles. In 1998, she launched HIV Plus magazine, where she served as editor in chief for two years before the magazine was sold to another media company. She then turned to writing a series on global AIDS for the newsletter of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, AmFAR
, and expanded it into a book, Moving Mountains: The Race to Treat Global AIDS. She also co-produced a companion documentary film, Pills, Profits, Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement, which aired for a year on the US cable channel Showtime. She also wrote about AIDS for magazines such as SEED
, the Nation
, newspapers such as the San Francisco Examiner, and health agencies such as the World Health Organization
.
As an activist, she has been active in the peace and women's movements and attended the famous Seneca Women's Peace Camp, where she protested the presence of nuclear cruise missiles on US soil. She was an early member of ACT UP. who participated in the first Wall Street protest, and other famous actions, demanding faster access to life-saving HIV medications, and later, access to HIV drugs for people living in poor countries. She has continued to publicly identify as an AIDS activist-journalist and remained active on a range of issues, advocating a 'humanrights-based' approach to AIDS care, or other issues. In recent years, she has focused on the impact of the epidemic on women, and vulnerable children.
In 2003, she began humanitarian work in Africa, focusing on the issue of gender-based violence linked to HIV/AIDS and the use of rape in war in East Africa. She launched and served as Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of a global initiative, WE-ACTx (Women’s Equity in Access to Care and Treatment), based in San-Francisco and Kigali, that helps Rwanda
n women affected by HIV/AIDS who are survivors of genocidal rape, and orphans. WE-ACTx works in partnership with the Rwandan government and 24 non-profit organizations (NGOs) to provide free, comprehensive HIV care, including free drugs and services to over 6,000 Rwandans (as of mid-2008), many widows of the genocide who survived mass rape and are living with HIV/AIDS as a result. The organization has spawned a sister organization, WE-ACTx for Hope, with an all-Rwandan staff of 60 that operates three clinics in Kigali. D'Adesky currently serves as Co-Founder and a Boardmember of WE-ACTx, and is actively networking with women's groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan, and other conflict zones, to share the approach and lessons taken in Rwanda.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
filmmaker, activist and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
advocate.
Biography
Adesky has been a foreign correspondentForeign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
working as a stringer for newspapers including the San Francisco Examiner and later, the Village Voice. Here, she began writing about HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
which had emerged as a new epidemic in Haiti and the USA. She wrote about HIV/AIDS for various newspapers, including the New York Native
New York Native
The New York Native was a fortnightly Pre-Immunization Revolution newspaper published in New York City from December 1980 until January 13, 1997. It was the only paper in New York City during the early part, and pioneered the notion of cancer in combination with AIDS, when most others ignored it...
, In These Times
In These Times
In These Times is a politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published by the Institute for Public Affairs in Chicago...
, and later magazines including The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
. She has focused instead on intensive investigation into the stolen fortune of deposed Haitian dictator 'Baby' Doc Duvalier, collaborating with the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
.
She was Senior Editor at Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...
magazine in the mid 1990s in charge of health coverage, and also wrote investigative features and long-form profiles. In 1998, she launched HIV Plus magazine, where she served as editor in chief for two years before the magazine was sold to another media company. She then turned to writing a series on global AIDS for the newsletter of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, AmFAR
AmfAR
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.-History:...
, and expanded it into a book, Moving Mountains: The Race to Treat Global AIDS. She also co-produced a companion documentary film, Pills, Profits, Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement, which aired for a year on the US cable channel Showtime. She also wrote about AIDS for magazines such as SEED
Seed (magazine)
Seed is an online science magazine published by Seed Media Group. The magazine looks at big ideas in science, important issues at the intersection of science and society, and the people driving global science culture...
, the Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, newspapers such as the San Francisco Examiner, and health agencies such as the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
.
As an activist, she has been active in the peace and women's movements and attended the famous Seneca Women's Peace Camp, where she protested the presence of nuclear cruise missiles on US soil. She was an early member of ACT UP. who participated in the first Wall Street protest, and other famous actions, demanding faster access to life-saving HIV medications, and later, access to HIV drugs for people living in poor countries. She has continued to publicly identify as an AIDS activist-journalist and remained active on a range of issues, advocating a 'humanrights-based' approach to AIDS care, or other issues. In recent years, she has focused on the impact of the epidemic on women, and vulnerable children.
In 2003, she began humanitarian work in Africa, focusing on the issue of gender-based violence linked to HIV/AIDS and the use of rape in war in East Africa. She launched and served as Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of a global initiative, WE-ACTx (Women’s Equity in Access to Care and Treatment), based in San-Francisco and Kigali, that helps Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
n women affected by HIV/AIDS who are survivors of genocidal rape, and orphans. WE-ACTx works in partnership with the Rwandan government and 24 non-profit organizations (NGOs) to provide free, comprehensive HIV care, including free drugs and services to over 6,000 Rwandans (as of mid-2008), many widows of the genocide who survived mass rape and are living with HIV/AIDS as a result. The organization has spawned a sister organization, WE-ACTx for Hope, with an all-Rwandan staff of 60 that operates three clinics in Kigali. D'Adesky currently serves as Co-Founder and a Boardmember of WE-ACTx, and is actively networking with women's groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan, and other conflict zones, to share the approach and lessons taken in Rwanda.
Awards
- 2000 amfARAmfARamfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.-History:...
’s inaurugural Award of Courage for "pioneering public information about HIV/AIDS" - 2006 "AIDS Hero" Award, San Francisco.
Nominations
- Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
nomination - George Polk Award nomination, best foreign reporting
- December 2007 OUT Magazine nomination, 'One of Top 35 To Watch' most important people in global AIDS.
External links
- www.we-actx.org (URL of organizational website)
- www.outcast-films.com (URL of film distributor)
- www.versobooks.com (URL of global AIDS book distributor)