Meeting with My Minister of Health

Fimba is from Burkina Faso. He is representing the Guttmacher Institute's Protecting the Next Generation Project at the conference.

As I said in a previous post, this conference is an opportunity for me to remind the decision makers in my country to keep their promises. So, yesterday I had a meeting with my minister of health just after his meeting with the 65 delegates of Burkina Faso who are here at the conference. I should point out that during this meeting, I had the chance to meet simultaneously Mr. Alain Yoda, the Minister of Health, Dr. Joseph André Tiendrebogo, the Permanent Secretary of the National Council in the Fight Against AIDS in Burkina Faso and Mrs. Cécile Beloum, a deputy of the National Assembly. During my meeting with my minister, I asked him three key questions:


Fimba is from Burkina Faso. He is representing the Guttmacher Institute's Protecting the Next Generation Project at the conference.

As I said in a previous post, this conference is an opportunity for me to remind the decision makers in my country to keep their promises. So, yesterday I had a meeting with my minister of health just after his meeting with the 65 delegates of Burkina Faso who are here at the conference. I should point out that during this meeting, I had the chance to meet simultaneously Mr. Alain Yoda, the Minister of Health, Dr. Joseph André Tiendrebogo, the Permanent Secretary of the National Council in the Fight Against AIDS in Burkina Faso and Mrs. Cécile Beloum, a deputy of the National Assembly. During my meeting with my minister, I asked him three key questions:

First, what are his impressions of the participation of the official delegation of Burkina Faso at this International AIDS Conference? The minister replied that he was very proud of the Burkinabè delegation because his fellow ministers whom he had met here had much congratulated him for the dynamism of the Burkinabè NGOs and CBOs here. It should be said that the African Solidarity Association (AAS) has a booth here and is also among the 20 finalists of an international contest on best practices organized by the Red Ribbon Association. In addition, he added that he is ready to join us in our in-country activities just as he has in international activities (like this conference) if we, in turn, are willing to keep him up to speed on what we are doing.

Second, I asked him what the objectives are for his participation in this conference. The minister replied that, given the public health problem he has in his country, he is obligated to be here for several reasons. First, he is here to have information on the state of research advancements and also to see how his country is seen from abroad. Also, he is here to participate in a meeting of several African ministers and a minister from France. During this meeting of ministers, they had a discussion to evaluate the Network of Therapeutic Hospital Solidarity Groups (ESTHER) program, a French initiative in a number of African countries and Vietnam. It's also an opportunity to have consultations between politicians and a great way to do advocacy and to mobilize resources for the struggle to end AIDS. Finally, he is here in his capacity as the First Vice President of the National Council in the Fight Against AIDS. In our country, the President of the Faso is also the President of the National AIDS Council, which demonstrates that the government is engaged in the struggle.

Third, I asked the minister what he took away from this conference. He replied that during his meeting with the other ministers, he had spoken a lot about scaling up prevention, above all for young people, and also scaling up treatment for all. During this meeting the French Minister of Health promised an increase of aid for health services. The French minister also promised to provide personnel support, informational support and equipment.

At the end, I asked my minister if he had any final words. The minister replied: "I am very tired and I would like to rest to take up negotiations again tomorrow, above all for the young people as your situation is the most worrisome after that of women."