• First Lady Dr Christine Kaseba welcomes  Madagascar’s  First Lady Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina on arrival at AU buildings for the 13 th Extra-Ordinary General Assembly of OAFLA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on January 31,2014. Picture by  THOMAS NSAMA

From XAVIER MANCHISHI In ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA –
FIRST Lady Dr Christine Kaseba has commended the African Union (AU) for coming up with the campaign to end child marriages.
Dr Kaseba who was the moderator at the Organisation for African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) 13th General Assembly, said the move was a step in the right direction.
She also called upon African First Ladies to continue with their effort in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“If we have to get to zero, we have to save our women” Dr Kaseba said.
She also paid tribute to Namibian First Lady Penehupifo Pohamba under whose stewardship OAFLA had grown from strength to strength.
At the same meeting, OAFLA and the AU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the already existing partnership between the two organisations.
Guest speaker at the ceremony, AU Commissioner on Social Affairs, Mustafa Kaloko said the MoU could not have come at a better time than when the issue of the prevention of maternal and child health was being presented to the AU Heads of States.
Dr Kaloko said the partnership between AU and OAFLA would strive to implement the Abuja Declaration as well as the newly developed AU campaign on child marriages.
Speaking at the same event UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo- Nguka said there was need to identify linkages between the two organisations as both were committed to getting to zero new HIV infections.
Dr Nguka expressed concern at the gross exploitation of women in Africa which was increasing women’s vulnerability to HIV and AIDS.
She also stressed the need to intensify sexual education in schools to reduce girls’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
UNAIDS representative Rosemary Museminali said HIV/AIDS needed to be strategically positioned in the post 2015 agenda as it still remained unfinished business for the African Continent.