Kigali — The First Lady Jeannette Kagame has said that HIV/Aids epidemic is becoming a serious threat to world development, with a big number of the population diminishing. Speaking at the Africa Multi-Country Aids Programme meeting held yesterday at Hotel des Mille Collines, Mrs Kagame said: "Aids remains a severe challenge to the development of our world today." She urged for move intervention programmes saying that there is need for more support to poor people to get more lives saved.

She hailed international organisations for their support in prevention against the pandemic.

"I applaud the World Bank and other organisations for their continued support in assisting Rwanda against HIV and Aids."

The First Lady recalled that among the many problems the country inherited from the Genocide thirteen years ago, was a big number of women and children who were infected with the virus.

"And, to date, together with her citizens, Rwanda is fighting to address such challenges," said Mrs Kagame.

During the same event the World Bank Country Manager, Victoria Kwakwa, praised the First Lady for her continued effort in fighting against HIV/Aids, adding that because of that, Mrs Kagame had earned herself a number of international awards.

Mrs Kagame is widely credited for her relentless efforts against the pandemic through a family-oriented project called Protection and Care of Families Against HIV/Aids (PACFA), and lately the Treat Every Child as Yours initiative.

The meeting is among the preliminary gatherings ahead of tomorrow's international Aids conference in Kigali under the auspices of the US President George Bush's President's Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR).

Also present at the meeting was the World Bank's vice president for Human Development Network, Joy Phumaphi, among others.

Meanwhile, a number of delegates have throughout the week been trickling into the capital Kigali for the highly billed PEPFAR conference. With a whopping budget of $15 billion, PEPFAR operates in 15 countries worldwide, 13 of them from Africa including Rwanda.