UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé is paying his first official visit to Rwanda from 27 August to 3 September to recognize and support the achievements of the Government of Rwanda in the HIV response and conduct high-level advocacy for universal access to HIV services and the Millennium Development Goals.

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS spent two days in Lesotho 15 – 16 July 2009 where he met His Majesty, King Letsie III, Prime Minister Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili-Qhobosheaneng, members of civil society, Lesotho’s national AIDS Commission and other senior government officials.

At the 63rd session of the General Assembly held in New York on 16 June 2009, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented a report on the progress made in the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

The High-Level Forum on Advancing Global Health in the Face of Crisis took place at United Nations Headquarters on Monday, 15 June 2009. The Secretary-General hosted a day long forum in order to elevate the global health debate and engage multisectoral representatives from around the world.

On 7 July the Universal Postal Union and UNAIDS together with the International Labour Organization and UNI Global launched a global prevention awareness campaign at a press conference held in Palais des Nation, Geneva, Switzerland.

Visiting New York this week, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with several UNAIDS Cosponsoring organizations to discuss optimizing partnerships between the Secretariat and its Cosponsors and leveraging respective organizational mandates and resources to work collectively to deliver results for countries.

This year’s World Health Assembly is set to focus considerable attention on the widespread outbreak of influenza A (H1N1), as Health Ministers and officials of more than 190 countries gather in Geneva from 18-22 May to discuss the most effective responses to the potential pandemic.

During an official visit to Bucharest, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with Mr Ion Bazac, Minister of Health of Romania on 12 May 2009. The Executive Director praised Romania’s significant achievement of universal access to HIV treatment for all people living with HIV in need of it.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé met with Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade on 8 April 2009 and they had an opportunity to discuss the country’s national AIDS response. Mr Sidibé also visited the SIDA Service’s health centre and met with civil society leaders as well as the Senegalese Minister of Health.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé held a series of meetings with Government officials and civil society groups in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia during his official visit to Brazil.