Michel Kazatchkine, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Laurent Geffroy
Monday july 23d, the French National AIDS Council took part in a press conference organized by the Anrs at the international AIDS 2012 conference in Washington, with Nobel Laureate in Medicine Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Michel Kazatchkine.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi gave comments on the highlights of the plenary session that took place in the morning, where United States Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton, amongst others, was invited to speak. She also talked about French President François Hollande’s statement earlier that day, in which he declared his commitment to the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the French implication in the Global Fund and the importance of mobilizing financial resources through a financial transaction tax.
Michel Kazatchkine pointed out the alarming progression of people newly infected with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, although this number is decreasing on a global scale. This worrisome issue was the subject of the “Regional session on Eastern Europe and Central Asia”, which Michel Kazatchkine had participated in a few minutes before the press conference.
Laurent Geffroy, expert-advisor for the CNS then gave an overview of the Council’s contributions to the conference, particularly on the subjects ofFrench public policies regarding illicit drug users and sex workers. He also described the CNS’ poster on innovative financingmechanisms, including a Tax on the Financial Transactions and a price reduction of life-saving treatments.
For more details on these contributions, download the CNS’ programme in Washington.