Mr Michel Sidibe appointed UNAIDS Executive Director.

Congratulations Mr Michel Sidibe

Geneva, 1 December, 2008 - On World AIDS Day the United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Mr Michel Sidib¨¦ as the
next Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Congratulating Mr Sidib¨¦ on his appointment, outgoing Executive
Director Dr. Peter Piot said, "The leadership of UNAIDS is in very
capable hands. UNAIDS has a vital role to play in sustaining the
progress made in the global response on AIDS."

Accepting the appointment Mr Sidib¨¦ said, "I am indeed honoured
to serve UNAIDS. The AIDS epidemic is not over in any part of the world.

We have to ensure that there is strong and long term leadership and
financial commitment to respond to AIDS that is grounded in evidence and human
rights. I also look forward to working within the UN System and with partners
from all corners of the world."

Mr Sidib¨¦ currently serves as UNAIDS' Deputy Executive Director
¨C Programmes and Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations.
He brings 27 yeas of experience in international public health,
development, and AIDS. With more than 20 years of service in the United Nations,
he has worked for UNAIDS in Geneva since 2001 and with UNICEF in New York and in
countries in Africa.

He has been the driving force behind the promoting Universal Access to
HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. As co-chair of the Global
Task Team on improving AIDS coordination among multilateral donors and
international donors, he led the effort to align multilateral
contributions in support of national programmes and systems. Mr
Sidib¨¦ has also served to advance the process of UN reform and
strengthen partnerships between civil society, governments and people
living with HIV

Michel Sidib¨¦ began his career in global health almost 30 years ago
when he became concerned with the health and welfare of the nomadic
Tuareg people in the Timbuktu region of his native Mali.

What began as a modest consulting role with Mali's Bureau of African Applied
Research evolved into a position as country director for the international
development federation Terre des Hommes. There he helped to establish some of
Mali's first programmes for resettlement, regional development and primary
health care.

In 1987 UNICEF recruited Mr Sidib¨¦ to work in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, commencing over 20 years of service with the United Nations.
From there he moved to UNICEF Headquarters, where he oversaw programmes spanning
10 francophone African countries. He later served as UNICEF Country
Representative in Swaziland, Burundi, and Uganda.

In 2001, Mr Sidib¨¦ joined UNAIDS as Director of Country and Regional
Support, overseeing a reform effort that is recognized as having
transformed UNAIDS into a more focused, efficient and effective joint
programme for delivering country-level results.

Mr Sidib¨¦ was appointed in 2007 to UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director
of Programmes and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

In this capacity, he manages more than 70 percent of UNAIDS financial and human
resources and leads UNAIDS' seven regional support teams and
81 country offices.

Over his career, Mr Sidib¨¦ has personally engaged key world leaders
in working toward sustainable and strategic responses to AIDS. He was
instrumental to the development of the first-ever Network of People
Living with HIV in Burundi, and continues to actively support the
meaningful involvement of people living with and affected by HIV in all aspects
of the response.

His other significant career achievements include pioneering the first
movement for girls' education in Africa, managing an immunization
program for 30 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
securing a humanitarian corridor for providing life-saving medication
during the aid embargo in Burundi, negotiating the successful release
and rehabilitation of child soldiers from Eastern Congo, and convening
one of the first agreements on price reductions for antiretroviral drugs in
Africa.

Born in 1952, Mr Sidibe is a citizen of Mali. He holds advanced
academic degrees in economics, international development and social
planning. He is fluent in English and French, and speaks a number of
African languages. He is married with four children

http://www.unaids.org/

For more information contact: UNAIDS ©¦ Mahesh Mahalingam ©¦ + 41 22 791 4918