By Zainab Turay
On the invitation of the UNAIDS, the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio has arrived in Senegal to participate in the West and Central Africa Regional High-Level Summit on HIV/AIDS.
Mrs. Bio is scheduled to address the political segment of the summit in which she is expected to talk on the challenges and proffer recommendations on the HIV/AIDS campaign at a time when the world is grappling with the Covid-19 and emerging pandemics.
“As discussed with you and H.E President Bio, I am convinced that your personal engagement in this summit would be transformational and I very much hope you will be able to participate,” the UNAID Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima wrote in the invite to the First Lady.
Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio will deliver a paper that will primarily focus on the importance of the Education Plus Initiative for HIV prevention and the empowerment of adolescent girls.
The summit taking place from October 31 to November 2 is aimed to build on fragile gains in the HIV response in West and Central Africa which has been faced with challenges even before the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to the UNAIDS, the summit will be a critical opportunity for all stakeholders to renew commitments to end AIDS and coverage around an implementable and sustainable roadmap for West and Central Africa to put the HIV response back on track.
The high level summit is being co-hosted by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Civil Society Institute for HIV and Health in West and Central Africa under the high patronage of the President of the Republic of Senegal, H.E Macky Sall.
