The wives of 11 African heads of state ended a summit in Kigali, Rwanda, promising to push for national AIDS policies aimed at halting its spread among women and youth.
In a statement from the three-day summit that ended late last night they said they would encourage their governments to "ensure that policies and institutions that seek to address the impact of the pandemic on children, youth and women are given priority".
The women vowed to "advocate and support interventions that facilitate the adoption of safer-sex practices and the development of life skills that will help youth to understand their sexuality and to protect themselves from HIV infection."
They also pledged to fight discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
The summit was attended by the wives of the leaders of Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria and Guinea Bissau.
They called for increased access to anti-retroviral AIDS drugs for infected children and women and the right to prenatal care and AIDS counselling for pregnant women.
AFP