OAFLA endorses Sustainable Development Goals
The Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA) has endorsed the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
OAFLA also reviewed its own role in helping to attain the SDGs, linking its Strategic Plan 2014-2018 with global efforts to reach the new goals.
At a high-level event in New York last Tuesday, OAFLA pledged to redouble its efforts to help ensure a safe and healthy future for women, children and young people.
The event, which was held on the theme, “Building on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to invest in the Post-2015 Development Agenda”, took place on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
The meeting brought together first ladies from Africa, as well as heads of UN agencies and major international donors, to explore how the SDGs would tackle the ‘unfinished business’ of the MDGs.
The First Lady of Panama, Mrs Lorena Castillo de Varela, and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, Mrs Victoria Beckham, attended the meeting as special guests
The First Lady of Malawi and Vice-President of OAFLA, Mrs Gertrude Mutharika, chaired the round table event on behalf of the OAFLA President, Mrs Lordina Mahama.
Commitment of first ladies
Mrs Mutharika reaffirmed the commitment of the African First Ladies to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and keeping mothers alive by championing the end of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy, improving access to HIV services and ensuring that all children diagnosed with HIV received treatment.
OAFLA members also committed to end new HIV infections among young women and adolescent girls and ensure AIDS was no longer the leading cause of death among adolescents.
The commitments were expected to be key priority areas of implementation for 2015 and 2016 by OAFLA member states and their partners.
Appreciation
In an address, the UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Michel Sidibé, saluted the great leadership of the African First Ladies in tackling what seemed impossible.
Mrs Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda, also expressed her appreciation to OAFLA partners for staying the course to fight AIDS epidemic that seemed insurmountable.
“Amazing decline in new infections has been achieved, but we must now integrate the work on AIDS into universal care,” she emphasised.
For her part, Mrs Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda, also thanked her colleague First Ladies of Africa for not giving up the battle against AIDS.
The First Lady of Panama, Mrs de Varela, urged the members of OAFLA to lead the way by forming a global movement of first ladies in the entire world to work together with their countries and partners to end AIDS as a public health threat and pledged to be an advocate in the Americas.
“Together as a world organisation, we will be stronger!” she stressed.
The meeting later broke into two roundtable discussion groups to examine HIV treatment and prevention for young people; and investing in women’s and adolescents’ health in the post-2015 development framework.
OAFLA was also joined by representatives of the Fashion 4 Development (F4D) initiative, which aims to harness the influence of the fashion world to create positive social change.
