Michel Hamala Sidibe

A long-standing champion of a people-centred approach to health and development and a strong advocate for social justice, Michel Sidibé became the second Executive Director of UNAIDS on 1 January 2009. He held the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

 

Mr Sidibé’s vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths has helped drive recent progress in the AIDS response. The goal of having 15 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy by the end of 2015 was achieved nine months ahead of schedule. Access to these life-saving medicines has continued to expand, with 22 million people now on treatment. Under his leadership of UNAIDS, more and more countries have adopted a fast-track approach through which the achievement of a set of measurable targets by 2020 set the world on course to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.