The Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) held its General Assembly, on 30 January 2012, at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the theme: “An HIV/AIDS free tomorrow needs caring men and women today”.

The OAFLA General Assembly was chaired by Advocate Bience Gawanas, Commissioner for Social Affairs of the African Union..

According to First Lady Mesfin, the association not only fights against AIDS but also promotes values such as peace, good governance and women empowerment. She explained that, First Ladies have the capacity to influence change through their collective voices, “they have become the voice of the most vulnerable”, she noted. Mrs. Mesfin underlined the necessity to empower women, as empowerment is the key to protect them from HIV/AIDS..

Mrs Ban Soon-Taek, wife of the United Nations Secretary General, was the guest of honor at the AOFLA General Assembly. in her speech, Mrs. Ban stated that, the momentum is building and the support for this project is increasing, therefore an AIDS free generation can be reality in a few years. She said saving the lives of children and their mothers is the main goal. “The improvement of reproductive health services” she said, was also a means to decrease vulnerability factors while highlighting the advantages of couple oriented solutions and the need to have high profile champions in all countries to lead the process in the sensitization campaign.

Addressing the African First Ladies, Commissioner Gawanas underlined men involvement in the fight against AIDS. She said men are often blamed and left out when they also have sexual and reproductive health needs that have to be addressed. She recalled the campaign against HIV-AIDS and the effort of the Department of Social Affairs of the African Union to eradicate mother to child transmission to zero.

Mr. Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, on his part, assured the OAFLA members of his support. He congratulated the First Ladies for their efforts aimed at bringing a change in the way people perceived the pandemic and how this has improved the lives of many. He underscored the importance for African countries to look for its own source of financing. “We are now going through a “Make it or Break it” phase and we need to find ways to produce our own drugs and look into ways to transfer technologies”, he reiterated.

Source: African Press Organization, 1 February, 2012.