Beatrice Were

Beatrice Were (born circa 1966) is a Ugandan AIDS activist.

Early life Beatrice Were married her husband, Francis, at age 19, she was a virgin at the time of her common-law wedding.

She discovered that she was HIV-positive after her husband died of AIDS-related meningitis in September 1991. With the help of a Kampala-based group of women lawyers, she successfully gained control of her husband's estate and retained custody of her children, and moved into a small building in her father's compound.

In 1993, Beatrice Were co-founded the non-governmental organization National Community of Women Living with AIDS (NACWOLA) to unite Ugandan women living with HIV and to improve the quality of their lives. which "encourages HIV-positive parents to prepare their children for bereavement by recording family memories in an album".

Were has called attention to the failures of Uganda's HIV/AIDS policies and programs since 2004, in coordination with Human Rights Watch. She has specifically called out United States' funding of abstinence until marriage approaches to HIV/AIDS and sex education. By November 2006, she was ActionAid Uganda's National Coordinator for HIV/AIDS.

In 2007, Were criticized a government decision to stop distributing female condoms.

In 2013, Were was the CEO of Ka Tutandike Uganda, an NGO focused on child welfare.

Awards Were was awarded InterAction Humanitarian Award in 2003. In 2005, she was awarded the Human Rights Defender Award, the highest honor bestowed by Human Rights Watch.