The Sunday News
FIRST Ladies of the 54 countries in the continent are expected to grace the 18th International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (Icasa), to be held in Harare at the end of this month.
The five-day conference will run from 29 November to 4 December at the Harare International Conference Centre, under the theme: “Aids in the Post 2015 era: Linking leadership, science and human rights.”
Press and Communications Officer for the local Icasa secretariat Mr Walter Mawere told Sunday News last week that the office of Zimbabwe’s First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe had sent invites to all the 54 First Ladies.
Mr Mawere expressed confidence that all the invited First Ladies would make it for the conference, the biggest continental meeting on Aids and STIs. He said the invited First Ladies are expected to participate in a special session titled: “The role of First Ladies in embracing and sustaining change in the HIV response.”
The session will deliberate on the efforts made and leadership provided by the spouses of African leaders towards achieving an HIV free generation, with the aim of enhancing commitment and action.
“Invitations are being handled from the First Lady’s office and they are the best to give you information on how many have confirmed. They (First Ladies) are expected to attend a special session and in addition they will be attending, in their individual capacity, the different sessions at the conference,” he said.
More than 10 000 delegates from around the world, among them scientists, health workers, policy makers, people living with HIV, community leaders and activists working in the fields of HIV and Aids, are expected to attend the conference. The conference provides a medium for African countries to exchange experiences and lessons on responses to HIV/ Aids and STIs, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Registration of delegates to the conference closed on Tuesday last week, amid concerns that fewer Zimbabweans compared to foreigners had shown interest in attending the event. Prior to the expiry of the registration deadline, the Icasa local secretariat had launched a serious media blitz targeting locals to encourage them to register for the conference. It could, however, not be established how many delegates had registered for the event by the time the deadline expired.
Mr Mawere said preparations for the event were almost complete with more than 95 percent of the work having been covered.
This year’s edition will host 15 plenaries, 42 abstract sessions, 13 non-abstract driven sessions, 18 special sessions, 21 workshops, 42 satellite sessions, 17 community dialogue space and stage sessions, cultural performances, dramas, musical sessions, and art exhibitions among other sessions.
For the first time in the history of the conference, the plenary session will have speakers from the community and the sciences joining invited dignitaries. Zimbabwe won the bid to host the Icasa conference ahead of four other countries after Tunisia, which had initially won the bid, failed to meet set security requirements.
