UNAIDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR INDICATES SUPPORT FOR AN

UNCLAS GENEVA 000148 SIPDIS DEPT FOR S/GAC, IO/T E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID KHIV SOCI TBIO UNAIDS SUBJECT: UNAIDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR INDICATES SUPPORT FOR AN AMCIT DEPUTY ¶1. Summary. Charge paid a courtesy call February 18, 2009, on Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Congratulating Sidibe on his appointment by the UN Secretary-General, Charge expressed strong U.S. support for UNAIDS anQurged Sidibe to appoint an American as one of the two UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director positions for which he is recruiting. Sidibe expressed his appreciation for U.S. support for his appointment and said he had told the SYG he intended to appoint an American as one of his deputies. Sidibe also expressed the hope to meet Ambassador Rice in New York, which the Charge supported. End summary. ¶2. Charge, accompanied by Mission's Health Attache, met February 18 with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe, who was accompanied by External Relations and Resource Mobilization officer Merle Wangerin. Sidibe, expressing appreciation for Charge's assurances of continued U.S. support for him and UNAIDS, discussed his recent trip to Africa and in particular his visit to the Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa, where he was accompanied by Minister of Health Barbara Hogan. He praised the work under way in the township focused on prevention, mother-to-child transmission, and integration of HIV and tuberculosis services, and highlighted the role of the private sector in this regard. ¶3. Recalling a previous lunch he had had with Sidibe and a group of Geneva Permanent Representatives, the Charge reiterated his support for Sidibe's strategy to focus on achieving global commitments to universal access to interventions for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Sidibe said he was meeting with the heads of the UNAIDS cosponsoring organizations (WHO, ILO, UNESCO, WFP, UNHCR, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, FAO and the World Bank) to enlist their support for that strategy and for more accountability in how the cosponsors use the resources they receive from the UNAIDS Unified Budget and Workplan. He envisions a "compact" between UNAIDS and each cosponsor that would catalyze their activities measured against specific objectives. He said the agency heads had reacted positively to his proposals, but staff at the lower levels were typically worried about budget levels and turf issues. The Charge observed that, while improved accountability is essential, different monitoring and evaluation systems used by the cosponsors may require better harmonization. Agreeing, Sidibe said he sought a common architecture to collect M&E information, better integration of UNAIDS country offices with UN country representatives, and even national "report cards" on progress toward meeting HIV/AIDS goals, although he knew the latter would be sensitive. ¶4. Noting that Sidibe was recruiting two Deputy Executive Directors, the Charge urged him to appoint an American to one of these positions. Sidibe said that was his intention, and in fact he had told that to the UN SYG. Sidibe also expressed the wish to have more contact with the United States - both government officials and representatives of civil society. He said he had requested a meeting with Ambassador Rice when he visits New York at the beginning of March; the Charge said he supported such a meeting. (Comment: Sidibe will be interested to know which of the two deputy positions the U.S. is interested in: Program or Management/External Relations. There are likely to be a number of American candidates for these positions, and Sidibe may also want a signal from us on individual candidates. End comment.) ¶5. Sidibe's comments at this meeting were consistent with remarks he made at the lunch mentioned in para 3, particularly his focus on efforts to achieve universal access (where prevention is critical) and on strengthening accountability. At the lunch he stressed the need to leverage the more than $41 billion spent on HIV/AIDS, such as by strengthening health systems and improving coordination at country level. He also proposed merging the two UN Summits planned for 2010 on the Millennium Development Goals and on HIV/AIDS, an idea he said the SYG welcomed. Saying we was not using a transition team, he outlined four areas where he and a Norwegian advisor (Sigrun Mogedal) were focused: how to make science and technology advances work for the AIDS response; how should UNAIDS work differently at the country level, especially with the Global Fund; issues of criminalization and stigmatization, particularly related to homophobia; and how UNAIDS can contribute to UN reform. STORELLA