Prof. John Idoko, the President of Nigeria’s bidding committee for 2021 edition of International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA 2021) on Monday said the country lost the bidding right due to international politics.
He told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the conference would now take place in Rwanda in December, with 10000 delegates expected to attend.
Idoko, who stressed the need for Nigerian leaders to improve on the international image of the country, explained that the perception of some countries
must be changed for mutual international relations to take place.
He added that “some international communities have negative feelings toward our country, hence they voted against our bidding right.
“Our leaders and the citizens must rise up to change the impression about the country.”
The don, who is also a medical practitioner, reiterated Federal Government’s determination to continue to advance the health progress of the country,
especially in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
He noted that even though the country lost the right to host ICASA, it would not deter government from working
toward attaining the desired goal of stemming HIV/AIDS.
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Meanwhile, the Rwanda ICASA will be the 20th edition and has “AIDS FREE AFRICA – Innovation, Community and Political Leadership” as its theme.
The aim of the conference is to engage Africa and other stakeholders in the Post-SDG Framework, where sustainability of the response in reaching 90, 90, 90,
UNAIDS will be possible. (NAN)
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