Brazilian infectious disease specialist and researcher Beatriz Grinsztejn will be the first Latin American woman to preside over the International AIDS Society (IAS), which brings together professionals working with the disease.
Grinsztejn, a researcher at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI/Fiocruz), stated that she will bring Brazil’s positive experiences in HIV treatment and prevention to international audiences. The country, she noted, has become a model in the field and has a “spectacular” program that guarantees free and universal access to Brazilians through the country’s unified health system, SUS.
“In Brazil, we have access to the best in terms of treatment and also prevention, which sets us apart from most Latin American countries, where pre-exposure prophylaxis is still not accessible to citizens through their public health systems,” she said in an interview with Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC).
She also advocated for increased funding for research in the country.
“Brazil continues to shine on the international stage, but we need the country to gain more visibility in order to attract more resources for research and demonstrate to the world the power of what is being done in our country. That is why we need someone from the region to lead the society,” she stated.
Source: Agência Brasil