Stephen Lewis

Co-Director

Mr. Stephen Lewis is the co-founder and co-director of AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization that works to promote more urgent and more effective global responses to HIV/AIDS.

Stephen Lewis’ work with the United Nations spanned more than two decades. He was the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from June 2001 until the end of 2006. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Lewis was Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF at the organization’s global headquarters in New York. From 1984 through 1988, he was Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations.

In addition to his work with AIDS-Free World, Mr. Lewis is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. He also serves as a Commissioner on the newly formed Global Commission on HIV and the Law, created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Mr. Lewis serves as the board chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, in Canada. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Emeritus Board Member of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Mr. Lewis holds 34 honorary degrees from Canadian universities and in June 2010 he received an honorary degree from Dartmouth College. Mr. Lewis was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honor for lifetime achievement, in 2003. In 2007, King Letsie III, monarch of the Kingdom of Lesotho (a small mountainous country in Southern Africa), invested Mr. Lewis as Knight Commander of the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe. The order is named for the founder of Lesotho; the knighthood is the country’s highest honor.

Contact Stephen: info@aidsfreeworld.org