Gertrude Mutharika heads Africa’s First Ladies health organisation

Malawi`s first lady Gertrude Mutharika has been appointed as president of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/ AIDS (OAFLA), Malawi24 has learnt.

This has been confirmed in a press release dated 24^th January 2017 and signed by Presidential Spokesperson Mgeme  Kalilani.Mutharika who was OAFLA’s vice president accepted the honour with humility.

The press statement however explains that, Her Excellency Lonardina Dramani Mahama, former first lady of Ghana left OAFLA’s office as a result of the outcome of the recent presidential election in Ghana which saw the opposition leader Nana Akufo Ado defeating John Mahama.

This is as per the provision of the Rules and Procedures of OAFLA Section 4, Article 15-F. Mutharika who is also a Dr will hold the office up to the next election, later this year.

The country’s first lady officially joined OAFLA in January 2015 and was voted Vice President in June 2015.

In 2002, thirty-seven African first ladies met in Geneva at a meeting facilitated by UNAIDS and the international AIDS Trust (IAT). As a result of this historic meeting OAFLA was established as a collective voice for Africa’s most vulnerable people, women and children infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

”Since then, OAFLA has transformed itself from a forum of ideas to an institution capable of providing the continent-wide leadership needed to bring about change in peoples’ lives. With its permanent secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, OAFLA has moved from addressing the symptoms of the HIV/AIDS crisis to the root causes of poverty and the overall inequality of women in the region” a description of organisation reads on its website.