Press statement

UNAIDS welcomes appointment of Natalia Kanem as Executive Director of UNFPA

GENEVA, 5 October 2017—UNAIDS welcomes the appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General of Natalia Kanem as the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“As part of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Population Fund’s work is critical in meeting the reproductive health needs of women and adolescents,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “I look forward to working closely with Ms Kanem. Her experience in public health, her strong leadership and her commitment to social justice will be invaluable in our efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat.” 

UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s response to HIV is integral to its goals of achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health and ending gender-based violence. UNFPA promotes integrated HIV and sexual and reproductive health services for young people, key populations, and women and girls, including people living with HIV.

As part of UNFPA’s work on HIV prevention, Ms Kanem is co-convening a meeting of the Global Prevention Coalition with Mr Sidibé to finalize work on the HIV Prevention 2020 Road Map, a road map to accelerate HIV prevention efforts and reduce new HIV infections by 75% by 2020.

UNFPA is one of UNAIDS’ 11 Cosponsors working to end the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. UNFPA is also part of the H6 partnership, which pulls together the collective strengths and distinct capacities of six United Nations agencies, related organizations and programmes to improve the health and save the lives of women and children around the world.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Contact

UNAIDS
Sophie Barton-Knott
tel. +41 22 791 1697
bartonknotts@unaids.org

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