First Lady To Represent West African First Ladies

Ghana's First Lady, Mrs. Theresa Kufuor has been elected Vice Chairperson of the West African Chapter of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against AIDs (OAFLAA) at a conference held in Geneva, Switzerland.

She has therefore become a member of a five-member committee of first ladies at the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS on the continent. A release issued in Accra said the five member steering committee is expected to convene its first meeting within next month to devise communication and awareness strategies to combat the disease as well as consider and take action on the terms of reference and other issues relating to their office. Other members of the committee included the First Ladies of Gabon, Malawi, Rwanda and Mauritania.

The release said a message that captured the spirit of the just ended conference in Geneva, Mrs. Kufuor said, "the continent would survive, if everybody could work together and if Africa could truly unite against the common enemy".

The Geneva conference under the auspices of International AIDS Trust and UNAIDS, followed previous meetings held in Yaounde, Bamako, Kigali and the United Nations Special Session on Children in May this year, which called on the African First Ladies to join their forces in combating the ever increasing spread of AIDS on the continent.

Eighteen First ladies, two women Vice-Presidents, eight Ministers of State responsible for Women's Affairs and Social Welfare and several other representatives of First Ladies of Africa and their governments attended the meeting. The Five-member interim executive committee with office accommodation in the African Union premises in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is expected to work for one year.