Hydeia Broadbent, prominent HIV activist since childhood, dies aged 39

 

The adoptive parents of Ms Broadbent, who is said to have inspired basketball star Magic Johnson to become an activist, were told she would not live past the age of five - but she went on to advocate for HIV awareness and education for decades.

Prominent HIV/AIDS activist Hydeia Broadbent has died at the age of 39 after living with the disease since childhood.

Ms Broadbent, who gained media attention for being a part of America's "first generation of children born HIV positive" in the late 1980s, died on Tuesday, her father said.

She was diagnosed with HIV at the age of three, though she was presumed to have been born with the illness.

"With great sadness, I must inform you all that our beloved friend, mentor and daughter Hydeia, passed away today after living with AIDS since birth," her father Loren Broadbent wrote on Facebook.

"Despite facing numerous challenges throughout her life, Hydeia remained determined to spread hope and positivity through education around HIV/AIDS," he added.

Mr Broadbent and his wife Patricia adopted Ms Broadbent after she was abandoned at the University Medical Centre of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas as an infant. They were told she would not live past five years old.

Ms Broadbent began speaking publicly about her diagnosis at the age of just six, as her mother encouraged her to help reduce the stigma surrounding the virus at the time, especially for the sake of children who had been diagnosed with it.

She became a fixture in HIV/AIDS advocacy before medications became available that could make living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a more manageable chronic illness.

One of her most notable TV appearances came alongside basketball superstar Magic Johnson in 1992 on a Nickelodeon special about HIV and AIDS, shortly after the basketball star announced his own HIV diagnosis.