In a joint official visit to Malawi, the Executive Directors of UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria commended President Bingu wa Mutharika on Malawi’s progress in the AIDS response and his leadership as Chairperson of the African Union on AIDS, health, food security and development.

The heads of seven African states were in Yaoundé at the invitation of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their countries’ independence on Thursday. The seven leaders also took part in the closing ceremony of the international conference “Africa 21” on Wednesday evening.

The Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Helen Clark and Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé are on a four day mission to Mali. It is the first joint mission to Mali by these two UN agencies. During the mission, Ms Clark will call for an accelerated national AIDS response in the lead-up to 2015, the target date set for reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé was invited by the South African government to join in the launch of a new testing campaign with President Jacob Zuma, Minister Motsoaledi, Premier Mokonyane and civil society representatives Ms Vuyiseka Dubula and Nkululeko Nxesi.

This week in Casablanca, countries came together to speak with a common voice and with one common goal – stopping AIDS from making further inroads in French-speaking countries. Representatives from around 50 French-speaking countries wrapped up the 5th Francophone conference on HIV/AIDS today.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé is in Botswana on the second leg of a three-country tour of Southern Africa to gain insight on progress and challenges towards achieving the goals of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

This week UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with Mr Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa in Cape Town to discuss support for global outreach on HIV by the South African government around the epic event taking place next summer.

Children born of hope in Viet Nam - Photo feature from the UNAIDS OUTLOOK Report 2010. Photo

Credit: UNAIDS/Justine Mott

Despite having an HIV prevalence of less than 0.1% among its general population, Pakistan’s HIV epidemic has transitioned from low to a concentrated one as the prevalence among IDUs has steadily increased from 10.8% in 2005 to nearly 21% in 2008.

The 3rd HIV/AIDS Conference in Eastern Europe and Central Asia opened in Moscow today with a ceremony attended by senior representatives of Russian Duma, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Academy of Sciences and the US Ambassador to the Russian Federation.