Born at the dawn of the Second World War, Albina du Boisrouvray is one of these figures that mark their time by the greatness of their work and the strength of their action.
A member of a large Franco-Bolivian family, she rebelled very early against this aristocratic, conventional and "reactionary" milieu.
Once an adult, she takes charge of her destiny and becomes a journalist, especially for the New Observer — It is she who reveals to the Express the scoop about the conditions of the death of Che Guevara and photos of the daily life of guerrillas in the jungle — then successful film producer with her company Albina Productions which she founded in 1970.
In 18 years of her career, she produced 22 films. One owes him films such as 36, Le Grand Tournant (1969, chez Pathé Cinéma) Les Zozos (1972), Le important c'est d'amour (1975) d'Andrzei Zulawski, Police Python (1976) or Fort Saganne (1984) d'Alain Corneau.
At the same time, Albina du Boisrouvray founded with the Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo the literary journal Libre in 1970, publishing works by Latin American writers such as Octavio Paz, Mario Vargas Llosa Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Carlos Fuentes.
From the leftist causes of the world to May 68, from the ecological cause to the struggles for the emancipation of women, Albina du Boisrouvray was at the heart of the major struggles of the second half of the twentieth century.
In January 1986, a staggering tragedy changed his life: the tragic death of his only son François-Xavier Bagnoud, during the Paris-Dakar, in the crash of the helicopter on board which he carried Thierry Sabine, race director and Daniel Baloins.
In the dark, she opposes a bright allegiance to life: she abandons her brilliant career as a film producer to defend the cause of the tens of millions of vulnerable children victims of the devastating AIDS pandemic, and women without access to their basic rights.
After spending two years with Médecins du Monde , during which she went on a mission to Lebanon during the war, Albina devotes all her energy, creativity, experience and entrepreneurial credibility to humanitarian causes, as well as to social development and research on many projects worldwide.
In 1989, she decided to devote 3/4 of her fortune — inherited in 1980 — to create a first Foundation and militant humanitarian aid NGOs that bear the name and initials of his son François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB), the first of which, the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, operated from Valais, Switzerland.
In 1990, with this first FXB Foundation, she provided substantial support to Dr. James Oleske's research and initiatives. — then described by the New York Times as « a leader in the fight against AIDS » — in particular through the financing of FXB Center and Chair in Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in order to improve the local clinical program and disseminate the expertise of the FXB Center in order to cope with the global HIV pandemic that was on the rise.
« She cared about children orphaned by AIDS when nobody else did. »
- Dr. James Oleske,pediatrician, HIV/AIDS pioneer researcher, professor emeritus at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
In the same year, the first FXB Foundation decided to finance the construction of a new aerospace and aeronautics building on the campus of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, where François-Xavier had studied engineering: FXB Building. With scholarships, the building will also house research laboratories, classrooms, offices, a conference room and a library, contributing to the development of knowledge and training of future generations of professionals in the field. Located southeast of the FXB Building, the Wave Field is a memorial dedicated to François-Xavier Bagnoud and is a real art work. This earth sculpture, representing a field of waves, changes over the course of the day due to variations of light and shadows. It was designed and directed by Maya Lin, a renowned artist who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as well as the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Over the years, other initiatives have been undertaken, such as the creation of the FXB Flight Institute or the establishment of the FXB Aerospace Prizes.
From 1991, Albina du Boisrouvray set up the VillageFXB model in Africa, a three-year pioneering and holistic programme aimed at eradicating extreme poverty in families and communities affected by AIDS, so that they could become economically self-sufficient and raise their children and orphans with a future.
This program, which was a revolutionary transgression for the time, marked a radical and innovative change in the way aid was administered, bringing lasting and self-sufficient change to individuals and communities.
« This approach consists in providing an income-generating activity, without repayment or interest, which allows to rise from the basement of extreme poverty on the ground floor, in three years, completely deposed families and access to their basic needs, all in the context of a broader investment in the ability of the poor to achieve and maintain good health and well-being in the long term. In 1989, the fashionable approach to eradicating poverty was a unique focus on microcredit: lending money to the poor, especially women, so that they could set up an autonomous enterprise. I quickly realized, however, that people living in extreme and permanent poverty would never be able to repay that money unless they ended their business in the process. »
- « Health is not alone », Albina du Boisrouvray in « To Save Humanity ». What Matters Most for a Healthy Future, Edited by Julio Frenk and Steven Hoffman, 2015, Oxford University Press
In 1993, Albina du Boisrouvray founded the François-Xavier Bagnoud Centre for Health and Human Rights at Harvard as part of a donation, from the first FXB Foundation, a building and a chair at the Faculty of Public Health.
His goal? Create an umbrella of protection above the vulnerable children of the world, the forgotten, the ones she calls the generation dumped. Promote through research by the FXB Centre a world that respects the human rights of all, with particular attention to children, and protects them from injustices caused by discrimination, poverty, conflict, disasters and forgetfulness: this is the mission of the centre.
Harvard's great professor Jonathan Mann, an accomplice and friend of Albina du Boisrouvray, was able to deploy his paradigm that emphasizes the inextricable link between health and access to basic human rights. It was to expand the teaching, research and activism of this pioneer in the fight against HIV/AIDS that Albina du Boisrouvray imagined the FXB Centre.
Jonathan Mann's approach was clear and visionary: public health can only have a lasting impact if social and cultural factors — that increase the risk of illness and prevent people from accessing their basic rights — are treated simultaneously.
The centre is currently working with a diverse group of academics, educators, elected officials, government agencies, non-profit organizations and members of the international political community to advance this health and human rights mix.
From UN corridors to Harvard amphitheatres through Nelson Mandela's house and the sewers of Ulan Bator, Albina du Boisrouvray fought around the world to improve the lives of AIDS orphans, Thai and Burmese prostitutes or poor families in Rwanda after the genocide of the Tutsi.
Described by Time Magazine as one of the « European heroes » and as a sort of alchemist « turning a tragedy into love for 100 million AIDS orphans and vulnerable children as a result of this pandemic »Albina du Boisrouvray received numerous awards and distinctions for all of her work.
Among them are the titles of Officer of Arts and Letters, Officer of the National Order of Merit and Officer of the Legion of Honor; the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe; the title of Doctor of Humanist Letters from the University of Michigan; the title of Doctor of Humanist Letters from Rutgers University; the title of John Harvard Fellow of Harvard University; a Special Recognition Award for its « Response to the AIDS Orphan Crisis » at the second conference on global strategies for the prevention and transmission of AIDS from mother to child in Montreal; the Award of Excellence in Global Public Health Diplomacy, awarded by the Board of Directors of the Jodhpur School of Public Health, in recognition of the remarkable work done at Rajasthan since 1996 or the « Life Time Contribution Award » in recognition of the actions it is carrying out in all 35 states and territories of the Indian Union, delivered by the President of India Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, and in the presence of Amartya Sen.
These distinctions reward the extraordinary route of a free, humanist and committed woman. A woman driven by a thirst for justice and a strong courage to live.
The Courage de vivre is also the title of the autobiographical book written by Albina du Boisrouvray and published in 2022 at Les Editions Flammarion.
