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Iael Altclas

Iael Altclas

Organization: Hospital Francisco Santojanni


Region: Latin America and Caribbean

Nationality: Argentina

Country: Argentina

Interests & expertise: Co-infections (TB, hepatitis, STIs, etc.)

Profession or occupation: Healthcare worker/social service provider


What inspires you to work in the HIV field?

The stigma and all that comes with an HIV diagnosis makes me wonder what we can do as healthcare workers to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV. People living with HIV often have lots of vulnerabilities that must be attended to. I certainly believe that it's a responsibility as a healthcare worker to study and learn different ways of managing and supporting people living with HIV, making better access to diagnosis and improving treatments, and also rethinking prevention strategies with no judgements about people's behaviours.

What are your goals as an IAS change maker?

My goals are to introduce a perspective in our medical practice and to raise awareness about the importance of understanding our patients and their contexts. Also, I think it’s really important to create a network to start working in a multidisciplinary way. As a healthcare worker, I want to improve prevention strategies, diagnosis methods and treatment options related to HIV.

The IAS promotes the use of non-stigmatizing, people-first language. The translations are all automated in the interest of making our content as widely accessible as possible. Regretfully, they may not always adhere to the people-first language of the original version.