Erika Castellanos

Erika Castellanos (she/her)

Netherlands

Erika Castellanos is a trans woman from Belize currently residing in the Netherlands. Since her diagnosis in 1995, Erika has been involved in community activism; from the early demands to treatment, advocating for legislation and protection of the dignity and protection of people living with HIV, volunteering in hospices, and mobilizing community groups. In 2009, Erika founded the first network of people living with HIV in Belize and successfully advocated for improvements in care and treatment, including diagnostic viral load laboratory testing. She served as a member of the Global Fund Board for the Communities delegation from 2017 to 2021 and was vice-chair of the board of the GNP+ from 2016 to 2018. Erika is currently the interim Executive Director of GATE and lives in the Netherlands with her husband and their two children.