Head of Global Fund to deliver pre-G8 and G20 message on HIV and human rights
in Toronto

Également disponible en français

TORONTO, June 9 /CNW/ - The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is welcoming to Canada one of world's foremost leaders in the fight against AIDS, Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Although speaking to audiences and media at two events on Friday, June 11, Dr. Kazatchkine is aiming a message to leaders of the G8 who meet in Huntsville on June 25-26 before they attend the G20 summit in Toronto on June 26-27.

This Friday morning, at the Munk Centre of the University of Toronto, Dr. Kazatchkine will address the tremendous progress made in scaling up the global response to AIDS, TB and malaria, and the remaining urgent need for services and medicines. He'll be joined by two African grandmothers and activists, Siphiwe Hlope (of Swaziland Positive Living) and "Mama" Darlina Tyawana (from the Alliance for Children's Entitlement to Social Security and the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa), as well as author, academic, columnist and commentator Gerry Caplan. The event is jointly sponsored by the Legal Network with the Comparative Program on Health and Society and the Global Health Diplomacy Unit at the University of Toronto.

Later that evening, Dr. Kazatchkine gives a free public lecture at the Grand Banking Hall in Toronto's financial district. The audience will consist of over 200 policy-makers, legal professionals, health researchers, activists and people living with or vulnerable to HIV/AIDS attending the 2nd Annual Symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights - see information at www.aidslaw.ca/symposium. It is expected that Dr. Kazatchkine will deliver a more pointed message on the role of human rights advocacy in overcoming the global AIDS crisis.

Dr. Kazatchkine has spent the past 25 years fighting AIDS as a leading physician, researcher, administrator, advocate, policy-maker and diplomat - see further background at http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/secretariat/director/.

About the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network

Since 1992, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (www.aidslaw.ca) has been promoting the human rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, in Canada and internationally, through research, legal and policy analysis, education, and community mobilization. The Legal Network is Canada's leading advocacy organization working on the legal and human rights issues raised by HIV/AIDS.

For further information: and to arrange interviews: Gilles Marchildon, Director of Communications, Tel: [phone] ext. 228, Cell: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]