Marina Mahathir is a writer, women’s rights and HIV/AIDS activist and TV producer. She served as the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council for 12 years from 1993-2005. In addition Marina has served on many regional and international HIV/AIDS bodies including the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), UNAIDS and the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV and Development 

(APLF).

 

Currently she is a member of the Board of Sisters in Islam, which advocates for justice and equality for Muslim women.

 

Marina also writes a fortnightly column on social issues in a local English-language daily as well as online, and writes and speaks regularly on women’s issues particularly where it relates to Islam, gender and HIV/AIDS. Between 2001 and 2009, she was Co-Executive Producer of an award-winning TV programme for young women, 3R-Respect, Relax and Respond. She is also an avid blogger with her own blog, www.rantingsbymm.blogspot.com, a Twitterer (@netraKL) and Facebooker.

 

In 2010, Marina was named the UN Person of the Year by the United Nations in Malaysia. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day in 2011, Marina was one of only two Malaysian women named to WomenDeliver.org’s list of 100 Most Inspiring People Delivering for Girls and Women (http://www.womendeliver.org/knowledge-center/publications/women-

deliver-100/).