United Nations Appoints ‘Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa’
Canadian diplomat Stephen Lewis has been named by the United Nations as a "special envoy for AIDS in Africa," the New York Times reports. Lewis recently served as a special adviser for Africa to the executive director of UNAIDS (New York Times, 6/2). Lewis said that "plummeting drug prices" and the "imminent launch" of a global AIDS trust fund have given him a "cautious sense of hope" that efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa may prove effective. He added, however, that he is "no starry-eyed Pollyanna," stating, "I understand full well what a massive undertaking it is to mobilize the policies and programs and the physical ingredients and the infrastructure and the partners and the sheer human commitment to turn things around." Lewis added that the U.N. General Assembly is slated to implement a "definitive framework" for fighting the epidemic at a special session later this month (Evenson, National Post, 6/2).
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