L to R: Dulce Valle Álvarez, Advisor at the
Mexican Permanent mission in Geneva,
Dr José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, Minister
of Health, UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr
Peter Piot, Dr María de los Ángeles
Fromow, Head of the Social Participation
unit and Dr Mauricio Hernández,
Undersecretary of Prevention and
Promotion of Health.
Photo credit: UNIADS/O.O'Hanlon

The Mexican Minister of Health, Dr José Ángel Córdova Villalobos, made a recent visit to UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva to meet with Exective Director Dr Peter Piot to discuss plans for the upcoming International AIDS Conference taking place in Mexico City from 3-8 August 2008.

The meeting follows on from Dr Piot's visit to Mexico last month where he joined government and civil society representatives in commemorating World AIDS Day in the Mexican town of Leon. During his visit to the country he also stopped off in Mexico City to discuss the initial preparations for the conference with senior officials.   

Whilst in Geneva, the Mexican delegation expressed their interest in collaborating with UNAIDS to organize two high-level thematic meetings during the International AIDS Conference. The first will invite First Ladies from the Latin American and Caribbean regions to discuss the feminization of the epidemic in the region with the First Lady of Mexico, Margarita Zavala de Calderón; the other will invite regional Ministers of Health and Education to look at specific AIDS-related issues pertinent to these sectors in the Latin America region. The Mexican delegation requested the assistance of UNAIDS in developing the content and focus of these meetings.