President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has appointed seven-person government delegation and approved three Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high level meeting on HIV and Aids.

This has been disclosed in a Press Statement signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Francis Kasaila made available to FaceofMalawi.

According to Kasaila the meetings will take place from 8 – 10 June, 2016.

In the statement, Kasaila said the delegation is small which will have a very heavy schedule in New York, apart from the plenary session of heads of state and government where he will represent the Malawi’s Leader there will be five panel sessions running in parallel.

“Malawi has been called to share its experiences and to inspire other countries. This is something that our nation can be very proud of, while at the meeting, Malawi can also learn lessons from other countries about how to address the bottle-necks that we will still have in our HIV and Aids response,” said Kasaila.

He said Malawi has an internationally acclaimed reputation globally on the way it has scaled up its treatment program and in particular, on its pioneering Option B+ program which puts HIV positive pregnant and breastfeeding women on life-long treatment for their own health and which has helped to avert new HIV infections in babies since its introduction in 2011.

Kasaila in the statement said the 2016 High-Level Meeting on Ending Aids will focus the world’s attention on the importance of a Fast-Track approach to the Aids response over the next five years and galvanize the attention of world leaders on the Sustainable Development Goals target of ‘ending Aids by 2030’ and what we collectively need to do as a global community to achieve this goal.

He emphasized that the delegation has been financially supported by the country’s development partners.