Join us for a conversation commemorating World Aids Day with special guests
Dr. Shannon Hader
Deputy Executive Director, Programme
UNAIDS
Dr. Chewe Luo
Associate Director and Chief of HIV/AIDS
UNICEF
Beverly E. Smith
National President & CEO
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
In honor of World AIDS Day (December 1), UNA-NYC and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. are partnering to pay tribute by recognizing people worldwide in the fight against HIV, showing support for people living with HIV, and commemorating those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day.
HIV thrives in the cracks in our societies, exploiting inequalities in wealth, gender, access to healthcare and the stigma and discrimination of marginalized groups most at risk of HIV. In recent years, fragile gains have been made in the global response to the AIDS pandemic; testing and treatment coverage is increasing, and new infections are declining globally.
However, these gains are not evenly distributed, and whatever fragile gains we have made were seriously threatened by the Covid pandemic. The global community has agreed to end AIDS by 2030 but the global AIDS response is now off track. To get the world back on track, UNAIDS is proposing a new set of bold, ambitious but achievable targets that, if met, will set the world back on course to end AIDS by 2030.
In this WebTalkUNA, Dr. Shannon Hader, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, and Dr. Chewe Luo, Associate Director and Chief of HIV/AIDS at UNICEF, will join with Beverly E. Smith, National President and CEO of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. to discuss the state of HIV advocacy work, the effects of Covid-19, how we can overcome existing equalities — especially for women and children — and what remains to be done.
For more information, download this document.
Introductory Remarks
BEVERLY E. SMITH
Beverly Evans Smith currently serves as the National President & CEO for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, one of the nation’s largest minority female-owned and operated public service non-profits. She also served as the organization’s National First Vice President, National Secretary and was previously employed as Delta Sigma Theta’s Executive Director.
Smith retired from the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) as the Assistant Commissioner and Georgia State Director for Adult Education and GED Testing. In this role, she provided adult education training programs for an average of 69,000 Georgia citizens annually with a staff of over 1200 educators and support staff at 450 sites across the state. She was also responsible for administering all Georgia GED testing and supported local literacy action groups throughout the state. In addition, Smith served as the 2015-17 Chair of the National Association of State Directors’ of Adult Education and has testified before the U.S. Senate HELP Committee representing the issues faced by adults with literacy challenges.
As an entrepreneur, Smith is also senior vice-president of The HR Group Inc., a management consulting firm she has co-owned with her husband, Stephen, for 30 years. As a corporate manager, Smith spent 18 years in leadership positions with AT&T (Southern Bell) and has experience in the areas of strategic planning, organizational effectiveness, operations redesign and restructure, financial management, and human resources.
She is a prolific motivational speaker in the areas of leadership development and change management. Smith is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and the Delta Research and Education Foundation (DREF). A long-term community volunteer, Smith served eight years as the Chair of the Cobb County Board of Elections & Registration and on various community boards, including the Atlanta Area Council-Boy Scouts of America, the Cobb County United Way, and Girls, Incorporated. She has been a Co-Chair for Leadership Cobb, as well as served on the Board of Directors for Chattahoochee Technical College and the Alumni Board of Directors for Bowling Green State University (Ohio), where she chaired its Strategic Planning Committee.
A recipient of numerous honors and awards, Smith was named 2020 Georgia Outstanding Individual by the Georgia General Assembly and the LEAD360 business organization’s Executive of the Year for 2020-21. Her alma mater, Bowling Green State University, named her to the 2018 Class of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni, and she was honored by the St. Louis Urban League/Urban League Guild with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. She was also recognized as an Outstanding Georgia Citizen by the Office of the Secretary of State in 2017 and is the recipient of a U.S. Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition. Recognized by the NW Georgia YWCA as a Woman of Achievement, she has been listed in both Who’s Who Among African Americans and Who’s Who in the Southeast. In 2006, she was named a “History Maker” by The HistoryMakers (thehistorymakers.com), a national African American historical registry, which is housed in the United States Library of Congress.
Smith is a member of both Omicron Delta Kappa and Golden Torch Honor Societies. She has also received keys and proclamations from cities/states across the country.
Beverly and her husband, Stephen, have been married for forty-nine years. The Smiths have two married children: son Brian (Rashan Ali) Smith, daughter Stacy (Dr. Jason) Frazier, and five grandchildren.
Guest Speakers
DR. SHANNON HADER
Dr. Shannon Hader joined UNAIDS in March 2019 as the Deputy Executive Director, Programme, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. She leads UNAIDS’ efforts in promoting an expanded and integrated United Nations system response to HIV at the country, regional and global levels, providing the strategic direction, advocacy, coordination and technical support needed to catalyse and connect leadership from governments and communities to deliver life-saving HIV services.
A public health physician, her career has reached across research, programme, policy and politics. Dr. Hader holds a degree in biological sciences from Stanford University and doctor of medicine and master of public health degrees from Columbia University. She is board certified in internal medicine, paediatrics and infectious diseases.
In 2014, Dr. Hader was appointed Director of the Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), providing technical leadership, funding, evaluation and programme support to help to achieve an AIDS-free generation worldwide.
Prior to that position, Dr. Hader served as Vice-President and Director for the Center for Health Systems and Solutions at the Futures Group (now Palladium). She also held the position of Senior Deputy Director, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration, for the District of Columbia, United States of America, from 2007 to 2010 and served as Director of CDC–Zimbabwe from 2003 to 2006.
Dr. Hader brings to the position more than 20 years of international experience in global health, from responding to HIV and infectious diseases to strengthening health systems. She has served in key health leadership roles, emphasizing accountability, scale and impact for sustainable responses.
DR. CHEWE LUO
Dr. Chewe Luo was appointed Associate Director, Programme Division of UNICEF, and Chief of the HIV/AIDS Section, in April 2016.
A pediatrician and tropical child health specialist, she served prior to this appointment as technical team leader for children and AIDS country program scale-up and Senior Program Adviser on HIV and Maternal Child Health in the Program Division.
She has nearly 20 years of experience in HIV and AIDS and child health as a clinician and researcher at the University Teaching hospital in Zambia; clinician in the UK and working with UNICEF at country, regional and headquarters levels.
Dr. Luo is a Zambian national and has a Medical Degree and a Masters of Medicine in Pediatrics from the University of Zambia School of Medicine, and a Masters in Tropical Pediatrics and a Ph.D. from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool University School of Medicine, in the UK. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, Scotland.