HIV/AIDS: Global Mobilisation Reinvigorated

The Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has been a very hectic and fulfilling one for Cameroon’s Presidential Couple. Most particularly for First Lady, Chantal Biya whose participation at an HIV conference has reinforced the commitment between her and some forty other First Ladies to work hand-inhand towards attaining the objective of an AIDS-free future for the continent of Africa.

It will not be an overstatement to state that First Lady Chantal Biya of Cameroon had a fulfilling time in Beijing while accompanying her husband, President Paul Biya at the just-ended summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. As UNAIDS Special Ambassador, Mrs Chantal Biya used her Beijing mission to actively bring to bear her experience to ensure a free HIV-AIDS Future for Africa and China as well.

This was during an HIV conference regrouping all First Ladies and heads of international organisations attending the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Chaired by the First Lady of the People’s Republic of China, Peng Liyuan, this AIDS Prevention and Control conference whose theme was, “China and Africa join hands for a future free of AIDS”, was an ideal opportunity for Mrs Biya to share and gain more knowledge on what she has been doing over two decades. That is, fighting against HIV and suffering while improving livelihood for the most vulnerable.

The conference was an occasion for the First Lady to showcase her works in curtailing the spread of the HIV pandemic in Cameroon and the African continent in particular. Some of such actions can be seen through the activities of the Pan-African NGO, African Synergy Against AIDS and Suffering in which Mrs Chantal Biya is the Founding President.

African Synergy, which is an embodiment of African First Ladies is greatly involved in mobilising African societies and the international community to fight against the HIV pandemic and other scourges. Creating an AIDS-free-Generation is not a new idea for Mrs Biya whose actions through African Synergy have been to eliminate...