Nkosi
Nkosi Johnson

Nkosi Johnson from South Africa was only twelve years when he died. He fought to the end for his and other sick children’s right to attend school and be treated like other children.

Nkosi opened a home for poor mothers and children with AIDAS and urged the South African government to give mothers with HIV/AIDS anti-HIV drugs that would save the lives of tens of thousands of children in South Africa every year. He received The World’s Children’s Prize posthumously for his fight for the rights of children with AIDS.

Even after his death Nkosi continues to be a role model for children with AIDS and for the healthy children who he taught not be afraid of children with HIV/AIDS to respect them.

Learn more about Nkosi in the Globe Magazine from 2005:

Text: Andreas Lönn
Photo: Juda Ngwenya/Reuters

The facts and figures on this page were accurate at the time of writing, in 2005

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