A 27-year-old South African woman, Khensani Mavasa, made history on Wednesday by becoming the first person living with HIV to speak before the UN General Assembly, addressing a high-level session on the global AIDS pandemic.
Mavasa directed a pointed appeal to African leaders, noting that women account for 77 percent of new HIV infections on the continent. She called on those governments to uphold the rights of vulnerable populations, especially women and girls.
Sub-Saharan Africa bears the heaviest burden of the epidemic, home to roughly two-thirds of the world's HIV-positive population. The region recorded approximately 2.7 million new infections and 2 million AIDS-related deaths in the previous year alone.
The UN gathering, which drew 10 heads of state and around 80 cabinet ministers, aims to adopt a framework for achieving universal access to AIDS care and prevention by 2010. Mavasa urged delegates to produce concrete, target-driven commitments rather than symbolic declarations.
General Assembly president Jan Eliasson of Sweden said afterward that Mavasa had brought the human reality of the epidemic directly into the chamber.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.