When illness and attrition diminished the capacity of their communications department, IWHC retained EqualShot to manage the “Hidden Face of AIDS” initiative.

EqualShot developed a communications strategy, pitched contacts in the media, and penned speeches and op-eds that brought global attention to the impact of HIV/AIDS on women in Latin America and South Asia, particularly married women in monogamous relationships.

One of the published op-eds -- written for IWHC president Adrienne Germain -- appeared in papers across the U.S. begins:

“On a recent trip to India and Bangladesh, I looked into the face of AIDS in Asia, which is increasingly adolescent and female. I saw the face of Kamla, a young girl from a remote village in Rajasthan, India, married to a boy from a neighboring village who did not tell her he had AIDS. Not long after their 16-month-old child died of unknown causes, her husband died. Just 15 days before his death, the child was diagnosed HIV-positive. Now Kamla is a widow and HIV-positive. She will suffer not only the stigma of HIV/AIDS but also severe isolation as a widowed, childless woman."