Zimbabwe has won the bid to host the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) to be held from the 29th of November to the 4th of December 2015. Announcing the outcome of the assessment that was carried out over three days, ICASA President, Dr Ihab Ahmed thanked President Robert Mugabe for accepting to host one of the largest AIDS conferences in Africa.
Health and Child Care Minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa and the visiting Uganda's Minister of Health, Sarah Opendi said the decision to grant Zimbabwe the honour to host the conference will further buttress strides registered in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The bid to host the 18th ICASA conference had initially been won by Tunisia, but the North African nation failed to meet some requirements, leading to the cancellation of the bid.
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| Photo credit: twitter.com |
The cancellation of the Tunisia bid paved the way for other African countries to express interest to host more than 5000 delegates from across the globe who will attend the conference. Zimbabwe then won the bid ahead of four other countries selected for further assessment. Before announcing the ICASA decision, Dr Ahmed and his team held meetings with the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Parirenyatwa, some government officials, as well as various HIV and AIDS organisations in the country.
The conference, which will bring together scientists, policy makers, activists, people living with HIV and some civil society representatives, is expected to review the HIV and AIDS response mechanisms adopted by countries as well as come up with ways of strengthening the partnership among governments and co-operating partners. The conference will be held under the theme ‘AIDS in Post 2015, Linking Leadership, Science and Human Rights.
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