Loune Viaud

Background

Viaud was born in Portuguese-Salut in southern Haiti.

Career

In the 1980s, she organized programs for street children in poor areas of Portuguese-au-Prince alongside future president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 1988, she was present for the Street Jean Bosco massacre, an attack on Aristide"s church which left at least 13 dead. Following the attack, she left the country, resettling in Boston.

In 1990, following a democratic election that brought Aristide the presidency, she returned to Haiti.

That year, she helped found Proje Sante Fanm, Haiti"s first women"s health clinic. She has also begun a gender-awareness training program for health care workers as well as women"s literacy projects and scholarship programs.

She also implemented numerous projects for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome education and prevention. Her groundbreaking work encompasses rights-based Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome treatment.

Advocating for fundamental rights including health, access to medicine, and clean water.

And working with the local government and citizens to build the government’s capacity to respond to those human rights. During her acceptance speech, she stressed the need to represent the rights of the poor and that basic social and economic rights must be respected. After the earthquake in January 2010, Viaud has been working to strengthen the Haitian health care sector by providing health care to the most vulnerable populations.

Named Zamni Beni, meaning “Blessed Friends”, the shelter is staffed by caregivers responsible for providing ongoing educational, emotional, and psychosocial support to orphans.

She is currently the director of strategic planning and operations at Zanmi Lausanne, a socio-medial complex in Cange, Haiti. The organization offers free health care to hundreds of thousands of people.

Her expertise informed a grant proposal to the Global Fund for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Tuberculouis and Malaria and resulted in a $67 million grant to Haiti and Zanmi Lasante. Making it the largest Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome treatment program in the world.

As of 2010, Zanmi Lausanne employed over 5,000 Haitians and support 12 health facilities.

Testimony of Loune Viaud, Delivered to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, March 23, 2010.

Achievements

• Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Laureate, Awarded in 2002 Peace and Justice Award from the Cambridge Peace Commission, 2000 Honorary Doctorate, Regis College, 2011 Rang National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation opening bell in New York City’s Times Square, 2011.

Connections

Partner:

Haitian Teens Confront Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome