Marina Mahathir was for 12 years the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council and Chair of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation. She has worked on many issues relating to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support in Malaysia and in the Asia Pacific region. Currently she is helping to organise the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Colombo in 2007.
Born in Kedah, Malaysia, she is also a columnist in the Star English daily in Malaysia where she writes about current issues especially women’s rights, censorship, young people and HIV/AIDS. She is also co-Executive producer of an award-winning TV programme for young women called 3R-Respect,Relax, Respond as well as Malaysia’s Most Popular Movie in 2005, Gol & Gincu. She is currently setting up the 3R Foundation to do mentoring programmes for young Malaysian women.
Marina’s current interest is in the area of Islam, Gender and HIV/AIDS and in March 2006 she gave a public lecture on this topic at Princeton University as well as at Asia Society panels in Washington DC and New York. She has been the subject of a CNN International Talk Asia episode, a coming BBC Radio interview as well as numerous media appearances locally.
In 2008 she was appointed a member of the International Advisory Board of the Asian University for Women as well as of AIDS2031. Marina Mahathir was voted United Nations Person of the Year for Malaysia in 2010.
