Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik

Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik is a mom, a family doctor and an HIV physician in Guelph, Ontario. In 2005, she founded and now directs the Masai Centre for Local, Regional and Global Health, in response to the growing numbers of HIV/AIDS patients in the Guelph area. The birth of an HIV negative boy named Masai to two HIV positive parents from Ethiopia in 2003 turned Anne-Marie into an international AIDS activist.

In 2005, Anne-Marie launched the Bracelet of Hope campaign with a goal of raising $1 million in Guelph for the OHAfrica Tšepong Clinic in Lesotho. With the help of over 100 volunteers, that goal was reached in October 2008. Anne-Marie’s dream now is to take the campaign national, across Canada, with the ultimate goal of freeing Lesotho in southern Africa from the death grip of HIV/AIDS.

Anne-Marie graduated from the University of Guelph and McMaster University Medical School. She’s a regional HIV specialist and is a member of the Board of Directors of OHAfrica, the Canadian-based international AIDS service organization that provides leadership support to the Tšepong HIV/AIDS Clinic in Lesotho.

Inspired by Stephen Lewis and supported by her family and many others, she is determined to do what it takes to assist in the global response that is necessary to fight AIDS. Her passion, vision and will have inspired many to join forces with her and other organizations to bring hope and healing to those touched by AIDS.

Says Anne-Marie, “God forbid that we should ever be comfortable while so many exist in such poverty, while 15 million children face the world each day with no parents, no future and no hope, while an entire young generation of men, women and children die of AIDS. More than ever I believe that our very survival as a global society depends on our response. To whom much is given, much is expected.”

Anne-Marie has been to Tšepong three times. Read her thoughtful reflections of her time with the clients and staff of Tšepong in her journals here.