Rajiv Kafle is a Nepali HIV and drug-policy activist, community organizer and social entrepreneur whose work has spanned grassroots care, national policy and global advocacy.

Diagnosed with HIV in 1997, he publicly disclosed his status on World AIDS Day in 2000. He went on to help build and lead networks of people living with HIV and people who use drugs in Nepal and across Asia, advocating for access to treatment, dignity and community leadership at a time when each remained fiercely contested.

His work brought him into collaboration with community organizations, governments, donors and international institutions. Yet Living with AIDS is less concerned with titles than with the people behind the movement: those who opened a door, shared medicine, cared for a child, challenged a policy or simply stayed when leaving would have been easier.

After arriving in the United States in 2023, Rajiv began again—earning his GED, working, farming and writing the memoir he had carried for decades. He lives in Oklahoma and is the founder of the Living with AIDS Project.