Statements and Webcast
Mali
H.E. Mr. Amadou Toumani Toure, President
8 June 2011
- Statement:
Statement Summary
AMADOU TOUMANI TOURE, President of Mali, emphasized the need to fine tune the response to the epidemic, based on today’s improved knowledge of it. Mali hosted the World Youth Summit on AIDS. It had been an opportunity to take advantage of youth’s outlook on health care needs and a way of meeting their needs, as well as drawing on youth leadership, in that regard. He said that during the Summit, youth has asked him to speak for them during today’s meeting and to convey that youth had already taken the lead in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But, their efforts alone were not enough to end the epidemic. Those young people had invested hope in the Assembly’s work and declarations. They had asked that the Assembly implement resolution 58/133, which called for a role for young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Young people, he said, have asked for greater decision-making power. Young people wanted to see resources funnelled to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, education and care. They wanted the stigma against people living with the disease to end. They wanted to have readily available information and services on HIV/AIDS, particularly for key population groups. Young people must accept their responsibility in dealing with the epidemic. At the Summit, they had agreed to do so.
Source: GA/11086