Sierra Leone’s First Lady appointed UNAIDS Champion for Adolescent Girls and Young Women

The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio, as a UNAIDS Champion for the Empowerment and Engagement of Adolescent girls and young women in Sierra Leone.

In the same fashion, UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, confirmed the appointment during a meeting with Mrs. Bio and her husband President Julius Maada Bio at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) taking place in New York.

Also, she said The First Lady is a strong advocate for the empowerment of women and girls, noting that she hopes to continue to work together to end gender inequalities that drive HIV including sexual and gender-based violence, as a means to ensuring that girls and young women have all the information and knowledge they need to lead healthy lives.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the World to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations including UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio is a leading advocate for the Hands Off Our Girls Campaign, a movement launched by President Maada Bio in December 2018 to ban Early Child Marriage and end Sexual Violence against women and girls. In 2022, she spearheaded the adoption of the first-ever World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Violence, which is commemorated annually on 18 November.

Mrs. Maada Bio is also a champion of Education Plus, an initiative launched by UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN Women to prevent HIV infections through free universal, quality secondary education for all girls and boys in Africa, reinforced through comprehensive empowerment programs.

In a brief remark, Mrs. Bio said “My hope is for a future where all women have equal rights, where women and men can sit at the same table and make decisions together, where women are given the space to lead”

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Figo Mansaray is a Liberian Journalist for over 10 years and currently working with Kukatonon Media Inc and AYV Media Empire.
Figo, a prospective Graduate at the University of Liberia can be contacted via +231777489052/+231881734014 and mfmansaray2015@gmail.com

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