Valuing and increasing the participation of women and youth in the health sector is essential to achieving sustainable results, participants heard at the fifteenth Francophonie Summit, held in Dakar, Senegal, from 25 to 30 November.

In parallel with the Francophonie Summit, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the Senegalese Ministry of Health, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the GAVI Alliance and UNITAID organized a high-level meeting on 26 November that brought together national and international dignitaries. They emphasized the importance of strengthening health systems in La Francophonie and of involving women, youth and, more widely, communities in health issues.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé spoke of the need to place on the political agenda the response to major epidemics. Participants said that the Ebola virus disease outbreak, which to date has killed more than 5500 people in West Africa, demonstrates the fragmentation of leadership and weaknesses of health systems. These factors and a lack of financial resources have also affected the HIV response in the past.

The post-2015 development goals, which should promote a new architecture for global health, should allow the translation of lessons learned from these outbreaks into rapid action.

Putting human rights issues and health at the heart of concerns in the post-2015 development agenda will also make it possible to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, which will mean a redistribution of opportunities. During his visit to Senegal, Mr Sidibé and Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund, visited the Ambulatory Treatment Centre in Dakar, which treats a range of infectious diseases and where more than 51 000 HIV tests were carried out in 2013.

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