High-level inaugural session — Rethinking the global AIDS response: Transitioning toward a new era of sexual and reproductive rights and justice

Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. A passionate and longstanding champion for social justice, she leads the United Nations’ efforts to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030. She believes that healthcare is a human right, and she is the co-founder and co-chair of the People’s Medicines Alliance, advocating for equitable access to medical technologies that help prevent and respond to current and future pandemics. Previously, she has served as the Executive Director of Oxfam International and as a member of parliament for her country, Uganda. She has been deeply involved in building global coalitions on social and economic justice, and founded the Forum for Women in Democracy, a Ugandan non-governmental organization. Winnie is also a globally respected leader on inequality, and in 2025, served on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality.