Mr Michel Sidibé (left) met with HE Girma Woldegiorgis, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Credit: UNAIDS/Y.Gebremedhin

The Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé is in Ethiopia to discuss ways of strengthening UN support to the AIDS response in the country.

High on the agenda will be the progress and challenges Ethiopia is facing in scaling up to universal access to HIV, prevention, treatment, care and support. These issues will be discussed in meetings with a range of stakeholders including the Ethiopian authorities, religious leaders, networks of people living with HIV, and senior officials from the African Union Commission.

Whilst in the country Mr Sidibé will also visit projects in Mekelle, a region some 800 km from the capital Addis Ababa. As well as visiting health facilities and care and support projects in the region, he will also meet with local communities to see first hand how universal access is working for people on the ground.

On the final day of the visit Mr Sidibé will meet with the press to present his vision for the future and highlight the urgent need to invigorate momentum and commitment towards achieving universal access and the need for increased investments for countries to reach their goals.