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HIV victim addresses UN assembly, urges African leaders to take action

Khensani Mavasa of South Africa speaks on Wednesday during the opening session of the UN high-level meeting on AIDS in the UN General Assembly in New York. PHOTO: AFP

A South African woman became on Wednesday the first person living with HIV to address the UN General Assembly, urging countries to action rather than "empty promises" in the global fight against AIDS.

In remarks to the opening session of a UN high-level meeting on the AIDS pandemic, Khensani Mavasa, 27, made a special appeal to the governments of African countries where women constitute 77 percent of new infections.

"I call on African leaders sitting here to protect and promote the human rights of all people in vulnerable groups, particularly women and girls," said Mavasa, who wore a simple blue and white T-shirt with the words "HIV Positive."

"We ask that you do not fail us yet again," she added.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains by far the worst-affected region in the world, being home to two-thirds of all people living with HIV.

Two million people died of AIDS in the region last year and there were 2.7 million new infections.

The UN meeting, which gathered 10 heads of state and government as well as some 80 Cabinet ministers, is aimed at adopting a blueprint for reaching the goal of providing "universal access" to AIDS care and prevention by 2010.

"Your big task now is making sure that this ... is not a document of empty promises, not a mere restatement of principle, but a platform for target based action," Mavasa told the conference.

Afterwards, the Swedish president of the general assembly, Jan Eliasson, said Mavasa had brought the reality of HIV/AIDS into the hall.

"If we multiply her face, multiply, multiply, multiply, ... we might get a slight notion of what this all means," Eliasson told reporters.
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