Executive Director, CITAMplus (Zambia)

Ms. Carol Nawina Nyirenda is a patient/health advocate from Lusaka, Zambia. She is the executive director of the Community Initiative for Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria (CITAMplus) based in Lusaka, Zambia, which is a patient-led organization.

Carol has lived openly, positively, and productively with HIV for more than 14 years and uses her personal experience with both TB and HIV, as well as working directly with the affected communities at the grassroots level, to advocate for policy change at national, regional, and international levels. She is a member of the Zambia Country Co-ordinating Mechanism (CCM), representing TB and Malaria constituencies, and serves as coordinator of the Oversight Committee of the CCM. She is a founder-member and national coordinator of the Coalition of Zambian Women Living with HIV (COZWHA+).

At the international level, Carol has in the recent past held positions on several executive boards of global health initiatives, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the Stop TB Partnership; and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, where she represents affected communities and brings a much-needed reality check of the unique value of lived experience to these important meetings. At the regional level, Carol is a member of the Global Fund-funded TB in the Mining Sector (TIMS) Regional Coordinating Mechanism (RCM) and chairperson of the RCM Oversight Committee. She is also the president of the Africa Coalition on TB (ACT!) and former chairperson of Pan African Positive Women’s Coalition (PAPWC).

Carol is a TB and cancer survivor, and this has made her very passionate about the work she does in and for the communities because she has experienced the diseases firsthand and works and lives among the affected community. She has been able to transform this personal experience into a political campaign to address TB/HIV and has incorporated TB advocacy into her national and global HIV activism. She has also played a major role in the development of Zambia’s Global Fund Concept Note and Funding Request and was part of the writing team. To further enhance her skills, Carol is currently undertaking an online Bachelor Degree in Development Studies with the Atlantic International University.