Hiv Frontlines

In 2004, a single e-mail changed the course of Dr. Kathryn Anastos' life -- and in so doing, may have helped saved the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of women and children in Rwanda. The e-mail came from a Rwandan activist group for women and children who were victims of the genocidal civil war that tore the country apart in 1994. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped during the genocide, and as Dr. Anastos recalls, the activist group "had just learned that the *perpetrators* of their rapes ... were being treated -- with state of the art, triple antiretroviral therapy." Outraged, Dr. Anastos and two other women from the United States decided to make a difference: They founded clinics in Rwanda that, with help from the Rwandan government and local staff, provide treatment and care to Rwandan women and their children. In this one-on-one interview, Dr. Anastos tells her story.