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PRESS STATEMENT
UNAIDS welcomes the appointment of Ambassador Deborah Birx as the new US Global AIDS Coordinator
GENEVA, 3 April 2014—The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) congratulates Dr Deborah Birx on her confirmation as Ambassador at Large and Coordinator of US Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally, leading the US Government’s international HIV efforts.
Ambassador Birx is a highly respected leader in the field of HIV and until her appointment as Coordinator served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Global HIV/AIDS.
“Ambassador Birx is widely recognized for her passion and commitment to the AIDS response and has already made a huge impact during her sterling career,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “PEPFAR is a key partner of UNAIDS and I am confident that under Ambassador Birx’s visionary leadership PEPFAR will continue its extraordinary success in preventing new HIV infections and expanding access to treatment.”
Having received widespread recognition for her work in AIDS vaccine research, Ambassador Birx was awarded the US Meritorious Service Medal for her significant contribution to the field. She also played an instrumental role as the Director of the US Military HIV Research Program and as the Director of the Division of Retrovirology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1996 to 2005.
UNAIDS and PEPFAR are longstanding partners and have collaborated on many initiatives, including expanding access to treatment, stopping new HIV infections among children through the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive, and ensuring a long-term, sustainable response to HIV.
UNAIDS
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—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners to maximize results for the AIDS response. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
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