Addis Ababa, 8 December 2011 -- Impassioned pleas for intensified efforts by all for African countries to achieve universal access by 2015 marked the end in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 8 December 2011 of Africa's largest conference on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections.

The calls echoed the spirit of the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS adopted at the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS adopted in June this year. The Declaration sets out bold new targets and calls on Member States to redouble efforts to achieve universal access by 2015.

Ethiopian Minister of Health Dr. Tedros Adhanom, who closed the conference spoke of the need for the international community to support Africa to achieve the target of universal access by 2015.

Speakers at the closing session of the conference included the Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe National AIDS Council, Dr Tapuwa Magure; UNAIDS Regional Support Team Director for East and Southern Africa, Prof Sheila Tlou; the Senior Program Manager of the African Coun-cil of AIDS Service Organizations (AFRICASO), Mr. Innocent Laison and the Deputy Director General, Federal HIV and AIDS Programme of Ethiopia, Ato Meskele Lera.

Remarks were also made by representatives of the Youth Front, and the National Network of HIV Positive Women in Ethiopia. Other speakers were the Commissioner for Social Affairs of the Af-rican Union Commission, Bience Gawanas, the President of the ICASA 2011 Dr. Yigeremu Abebe , and the President of the Society for AIDS in Africa, Prof. Robert Soudre,

Dr Magure stated that a number of African countries including Zimbabwe were already adapting their National Strategic Plans on AIDS to targets set out in the United Nations High Level Meet-ing on AIDS . He also underlined the imperative necessity for countries to allocate more domestic resources to the fight against HIV if the targets are to be reached.

On his part, Mr. Laison of AFRICASO said that countries should make every effort to meet the target date of 2015 for achieving universal access as contained in the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

A prominent feature of the closing ceremony was the distribution of a declaration that urged donors to continue to invest in global health through contributions to the Global Fund.

An estimated 10,000 participants attended the five-day conference during which 16 plenary sessions, more than 200 special sessions and 50 satellite symposia were held.

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For more information- :

Technical contact:

Emil Asamoah-Odei, Programme Manager a.i., Regional HIV/AIDS Programme
Tel: +47 241 39277;
E-mail: asamoahodeie [at] afro.who.int (asamoahodeie[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)

Media contact:

Samuel Ajibola
Tel: +47 241 39378;
E-mail: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int (ajibolas[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)