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These Women Are Fighting Disease and Preparing for Future Health Threats

By The Global Fund

March 7^th, 2023

Strong health systems are vital to ending AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, responding to emergencies that fuel disease and preparing for future health threats.

Every year the Global Fund invests US$1.5 billion into building strong and resilient health systems. In every region of the world, much of this work is led by women.

To mark International Women’s Day, we are shining a spotlight on women from across the Global Fund partnership who are leading the fight against disease to protect their communities.

Krystal Birungi, Field Entomologist, Uganda

“Every child, everywhere, deserves to be protected from malaria. Every mother deserves to be free from the fear that her child will die from malaria.”

The Global Fund/Mugabe Mashenda Derrick

The Global Fund/Mugabe Mashenda Derrick

Krystal admits that there aren’t a lot of women in her profession.

As a field entomologist, she collects mosquito samples that she and her colleagues study to develop genetic technology that can interrupt malaria transmission.

Or as Krystal says: “Every day I get up, and I want to end malaria.”

Krystal’s fight against malaria is not only professional, but highly personal. She remembers the horrors of having malaria as a child, her little brother convulsing with the disease and her mother struggling to afford treatment for her children.

Today, as a scientist and a mother, Krystal does not face the same hardships her family experienced while growing up. And she remains dedicated to ensuring others are protected from the disease too.

Read more about Krystal.

Yulia Malyk, Social Worker, Ukraine

“I moved to Kharkiv from my hometown after I finished high school and I instantly fell in love with the city. I don't want to leave, it's my home now.”

The Global Fund/Ashley Gilbertson

The Global Fund/Ashley Gilbertson

Every day that Yulia goes to work she puts her life at risk.

Yulia is a social worker, providing community-based health outreach services to prevent, diagnose and treat people with TB.

She lives and works in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which has sustained intense, often daily, shelling since the Russian invasion of Ukraine over a year ago.

“When I step outside, I instantly start checking the spots around me for shelter in case of shelling. We were not prepared. No one can be prepared for this,” says Yulia.

Yulia visits various locations across Kharkiv and provides free TB screening. When a person is diagnosed with the disease, she connects them to health and social services.

Despite the dangers, she plans on staying in the city and continuing her outreach work.

Read more about Yulia.

Suzy Haylock, Community Health Volunteer, Honduras

“I take blood samples, do rapid diagnostic tests and I diagnose. I then give them tablets straight away.”

The Global Fund/Tomas Ayuso

The Global Fund/Tomas Ayuso

Suzy has tested and treated thousands of people for malaria since becoming a community health volunteer two decades ago.

“They come to my house, and I look after them at night, in the morning, at whatever time,” she says.

Suzy lives in Cauquira, a town surrounded by lagoons and the Caribbean Sea in Honduras. It is located in one of the few regions where malaria remains a serious threat in the country.

In her role, Suzy welcomes patients into her home and does community outreach to bring health services and information to people who are most vulnerable to the disease: children under 5, pregnant women and fishermen.

Over the last 20 years, volunteer health workers have been the backbone of Honduras’ impressive wins against malaria and have reversed setbacks from COVID-19 and deadly tropical storms.

Read more about Suzy.

Neema Waziri, Peer Educator, Tanzania

“They learn how to protect themselves against pregnancy and HIV. They can negotiate the use of condoms with men. They can stand up for themselves.”

The Global Fund/Vincent Becker

The Global Fund/Ingrid van der Walt/Rooftop

Neema dedicates her life to educating and empowering young women and men in her community to protect themselves and stand up for their rights.

As a peer educator she leads a community group for adolescent girls and young women.

“We want girls to be able to raise their voices. If they meet up with men, they can stand up for themselves. They can negotiate the use of condoms,” she says.

Neema also provides girls with condoms and refers them to the local clinic for HIV testing.

Her work is vital, as 4,900 adolescent girls and young women become infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa every week.

Neema also knows that to beat the HIV epidemic among young women and girls, she also needs to reach men. So, she regularly visits the young men who work as motorbike taxi drivers, speaking to them about HIV prevention and providing them with free condoms as well.

“Today, I love what I do,” says Neema.

Read more about Neema.

Chinasa Abani, Logistician, Nigeria

“In the riverine areas we use canoes. In sandy areas we use vehicles with big tires. We also use horses, carts and donkeys.”

The Global Fund/Andrew Esiebo/Panos

The Global Fund/Andrew Esiebo/Panos

For over a decade, Chinasa has helped ensure people living in some of the world’s most challenging terrains with the highest rates of malaria sleep under the protection of a mosquito net.

Recently she was one of the logisticians behind the world’s largest mosquito net distribution campaign in Kano State, Nigeria. The campaign delivered 8.8 million nets to more than 18 million people in just two weeks.

Chinasa and her team oversaw the sourcing of various vehicles used to transport the mosquito nets. She says the Kano campaign was particularly challenging.

“Kano requires more thinking. It requires more care and accuracy. It requires a larger workforce,” she says.

Chinasa and colleagues organize whatever mode of transport necessary to deliver nets most effectively including large trucks, all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes, canoes, boats, horses, donkeys and human porters.

Read more about Chinasa.

Ida Neni Haryanti, Head of Virology Laboratory, Indonesia

“We will be ready to face the next pandemic… and with the existence of whole genome sequencing, we will be able to cover a wider range of diseases.”

The Global Fund/Jiro Ose

The Global Fund/Jiro Ose

Ida has experienced numerous challenges and triumphs throughout her career, but nothing compares to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I remember wearing an astronaut suit. It was very scary because it was the new pandemic, but… it was extraordinary, that I was the person trusted by the lab to take the specimen. Even though I was afraid, I felt proud,” she says.

And Ida’s work has also been transformed by massive advances in diagnostic technology.

In August 2022 Ida and her colleagues began using whole genome sequencing, a laboratory method that helps fight disease and prepare for future health threats. Their work is part of the government’s Biomedical and Genome Science Initiative, which is helping to transform Indonesia’s laboratory systems.

Ida says she wishes the technology had been available throughout the COVID-19 pandemic but feels she and her team will now be much better prepared to face future health threats.

Read more about Ida.

© 2026 The Global Fund

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