Photos
Album from Executive Director Photo Galleries
UNAIDS Executive Director special visit to the San Francisco Bay Area
19 June 2012
In July 2012 the International AIDS Conference will return to the United States of America. Ahead of the Conference, the UNAIDS Executive Director made a special visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, an area which has been particularly affected by AIDS, and which has subsequently become an important centre of AIDS activism.
During his visit to Oakland Michel Sidibé joined U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee at the AIDS Project of the East Bay offices. “If we are going to truly end the AIDS epidemic in this country and across the globe, we must address the underlying issues of race, education, sex, poverty and stigma which continue to fuel the spread of HIV in many communities,” she said.
Michel Sidibé visited the headquarters of the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation which works to expand access to HIV care and treatment in developing countries.
Steve Gibson is the Director of Magnet, an organization which provides free HIV and STD/STI testing as well as Hepatitis A & B vaccinations. In addition to clinical services, Magnet is also an art gallery, lounge and internet café. A programme of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Magnet promotes physical, mental and social well-being of gay men.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé took part in discussions on sex workers' rights at the St. James Infirmary, a medical and social service organization for sex workers and former sex workers of all genders.
Don Francis, Executive Director of VaxGen Research Co., Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Paul Volberding, Director of AIDS Research Institute at San Francisco General Hospital, Arthur Ammann, medical doctor, and Bradley Hare, assistant clinical professor at University of California San Francisco, discussed the US response to HIV during a meeting at San Francisco’s General Hospital.