Welcome address delivered By Dr. Brima Kargbo, Director, National HIV/AIDS Secretariat at the National HIV/AIDS Council (NAC) Meeting Held at State House, State House Avenue, Freetown.

Friday 4^th June, 2010

Your Excellency, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone and Chairman of the National AIDS Council.

Hon. Vice President, Alhaji Chief Samuel Sam Sumana

Hon. Ministers of Cabinet

Respected Members of Council

Distinguished Observers

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the National AIDS Secretariat, and on my own behalf, I wish to take the opportunity to thank the President for taking time off his busy schedule to come to this fourth NAC Meeting. Your Excellency, the Secretariat recognizes the high level of commitment you have been demonstrating in our concerted effort to slow down the spread of the virus in our country.  We would want to welcome you once again to this very important meeting.

I also wish on behalf of the National AIDS Secretariat to heartily welcome other members of the National AIDS Council under the leadership of His Excellency, the President.

Your Excellency, distinguished Council Members, you would recalled the commitments made at the United Nations in 2001 by Heads of State and Government as a matter of urgency to address the problem of HIV/AIDS in all its aspects.

The Declaration sets out priorities for Members States:

To ensure that people everywhere particularly the young-know what to do to avoid infection.

To stop perhaps the most tragic of all forms of HIV transmission-from Mother to Child.

To provide treatment to all those infected.

To care for all whose lives have been devastated by AIDS, particularly the orphans.

The commitments contained in the Declaration include specific deadlines that should be reached by 2003, 2005 and 2010.

Your Excellency, much has been accomplished since 2001 in which the Government of Sierra Leone is committed to scaling up towards the goal of Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support Services by 2010.  As we move towards Universal access, People Living with HIV will be able to return to work, young people would have learnt to protect themselves and mothers would have delivered babies free from HIV.

Significant resources have been mobilized.  This is made possible through our numerous partners in particular the Global Fund, UN Agencies, Bilateral and Multilateral partners.

Today, Your Excellency, the Secretariat and its partners have mobilized about 86 million dollars for a period of five years from the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS and Health Systems Strengthening.

We continue to register our profound thanks and appreciation to the Government and our numerous partners for their unreserved support and continued collaboration in response to the epidemic.

As we look forward to meaningful deliberations and guidance from Council, I once more wish to welcome you all to the fold of fighting HIV/AIDS in our beloved country.

I thank you for your attention.