Ms. Noerine Kaleeba
Ms. Noerine Kaleeba specialized in orthopedics, physiotherapy and community rehabilitation at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopedic Hospital, Oswestry, England. She went on to work with Mulago Hospital, the largest teaching hospital in Uganda, and was the principal of Mulago School of Physiotherapy until 1987.
In 1987, Ms. Kaleeba set up a support group which blossomed into a vibrant organization, "The AIDS Support Organization" (TASO Uganda), to provide care, support and counseling, and to mobilize communities and neighborhood care for people with HIV/AIDS and their families. Based on the concept of positive living, TASO was one of the very first community responses to AIDS in Africa and is today one of the leading examples in AIDS care and support and community education for prevention in resource-limited settings. As the founder, Ms. Kaleeba also worked as the Executive Director of TASO Uganda for eight years until 1995 . Then, Ms. Kaleeba worked as a programmed development adviser, Africa, for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and was based at their secretariat in Geneva till she retired recently.
Ms. Kaleeba has been awarded several international awards in recognition of her national and global anti-AIDS efforts, including The Belgian King Baudouin Prize for Development, awarded to TASO in 1995, and Doctor of Humane Letters, Honorius Causa, in 2000. She has served on various national and international bodies, including the World Health Organization Global Commission on HIV/AIDS, the Global AIDS Policy Coalition and the Uganda AIDS Commission. She has been a trustee of international NGO boards such as Maristopes International, Noah’s Ark (Sweden), and a Vice-Chair of Action Aid UK.