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Zahira Begalieva has long been promoting the rights of people with disabilities in Kazakhstan and helping them secure jobs through her ITeachMe Competence Development Center. Zahira, who herself lives with a serious musculoskeletal disease, knows firsthand how critical accessibility and inclusion can be.

On December 1, we joined the global community in commemorating World AIDS Day. Meet Irina, an HIV peer navigator, from Kazakhstan, who works for a community-based organization that raises awareness about HIV and helps people learn their status and seek treatment.

As a child growing up in the tiny village of Baydala in northern Kazakhstan, one of Mariyash Salimgereyevna Zhakupova’s daily chores was cleaning the family’s kerosene lamp. To her small hands, it was heavy and sticky, but it had to be done, for it was the family’s only source of light once evening fell.