First ladies to work together against HIV/AIDS

First ladies from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) met in a roundtable on Friday and agreed to pool their efforts in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the region. "[We,] the first ladies of the COMESA region should continue to play a role in advocating for the mainstreaming of women's economic empowerment in the fight against HIV/AIDS," the first ladies said in a communiqué issued in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, at the end of their two-day summit. During the meeting, chaired by Rwanda's first lady, Jeannette Kagame, the first ladies vowed to enhance their partnership with women entrepreneurs in the region in order to promote women's economic empowerment and to address the alarming trend of women contracting HIV/AIDS more than men. The first ladies' roundtable is an initiative of a unit in the COMESA Secretariat for women in business, gender and social affairs. The roundtable runs parallel to the annual COMESA heads of state summit. The first ladies said that some progress had been made in HIV/AIDS advocacy but women still face many obstacles that have negative consequences for their financial, social and health status. The first ladies of Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Swaziland and Zambia attended the Kigali summit. Those of Burundi, Mauritius and Uganda sent representatives.