Ophelia Haanyama

Ophelia Haanyama is a longtime activist, speaker and author born in Zambia, but based in Sweden since 1991. For over three decades she has led and been part of projects and networks such as Women for Positive Action and AIDS Action Europe.

Ophelia has been a pioneer when it comes to implementing community testing in Sweden and holds a passion for reaching out to migrant communities. As a woman living with HIV since the early nineties and a mother of two, she has also worked on parenting, menopause and ending HIV stigma.

She has written two books, Ophelia´s journey and The journey ahead: Ending the HIV epidemic. She is also the pioneer of Women Know What Works, an Ambassador for ViiV THRIVE Project. She arranged a successful preconference at the AIS conference in Kigali Rwanda, where she also launched HIV UNWRAPPED Rwanda and attended the HIV WRAPPED fashion show during the NY Fashion week in September 2025.

She is currently working at Positthiva Gruppen as an expert in Cultural Cooperation. Ophelia was invited to speak at ViiV “Deep Skin” which held at EACS 2025.She is one of the people who was invited to attend ViiV ‘s Global Patient Summit in Lisboan

News featuring Ophelia

Positive Health – Episode 6

24 Nov 2025

Co-hosts Susan Cole and Denis Onyango are joined by Ophelia Haanyama and Dr Michael Brady. They will be discussing the pressing issues around HIV affecting Black communities, and solutions to the challenges faced. This episode was streamed live on Monday 24 November...

Dr Michael Brady

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