Purnima Mane

Purnima Mane is an internationally respected expert on sexual and reproductive health who served as the President and CEO of Pathfinder International, a post she held between February 2012 and April 2016.[1]

Earlier, she served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Executive Director (Programme), a position she was appointed to in March 2007. Mane joined UNFPA from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), where she served as director of policy, evidence and partnership.

Mane joined the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS in 1994, moving to UNAIDS at its inception in 1996, where she provided oversight to the area of behavioural sciences research and gender and AIDS. She also managed the executive office.

From 1999 to 2003, she worked at the Population Council in New York, where she later became vice-president and director of international programmes.[2] In 2003, she went on to work for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, where she was chief fund portfolio director and director, Asia.

She returned to UNAIDS in 2004 as director, policy, evidence and partnerships, serving as a vital member of the senior management team.

Mane has a distinguished track record as an international expert on gender and HIV and led the process of developing the HIV Prevention Policy, which was endorsed by the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board in June 2005 and the first UNAIDS Strategic Plan (1996–2000).

Mane holds a doctorate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, where she later went on to become an associate professor. Before joining UNAIDS, Mane worked for over 13 years in India on public health and gender-related issues.