Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The visit of former U.S. President George W. Bush to Namibia today and tomorrow will focus on how to improve the lives of women and girls by providing access to education and health care.
It will also lead to economic opportunity, increased stability and security and specifically deal with how first ladies address these issues in their countries, according to the U.S. embassy in Windhoek.
The 43rd US president and his wife Laura Lane Welch Bush will arrive at Eros Airport, government terminal, today from Botswana. He will visit Windhoek Central Hospital where he will engage in a roundtable meeting.
Eric Atkins, the public affairs officer in the American embassy, said Bush and his wife would also visit programmes supported by the First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, through her ONE Economy Foundation.
Additionally, Bush and his wife will visit facilities in Windhoek being prepared for Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon’s expected service launch at health facilities across Namibia this spring.
“In Botswana and Namibia the President and Mrs Bush would celebrate the remarkable progress made over the past two decades to address the challenges of disease, poverty and security, and the role that U.S. foreign aid has played in delivering lifesaving treatment for HIV/AIDS to nearly 12 million people,” said Atkins.
In a statement to the media, Atkins also explained the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative, which was launched in 2011 by the Bush Institute, PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and Susan G. Komen, along with other private and public partners, building upon the HIV/AIDS platform to combat cervical and breast cancer in the developing world.
This will be the Bush’s seventh visit to the African continent, since his time in the White House. Their previous travel included visits to other Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partner countries, namely Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and Ethiopia.
“The trip … demonstrates President and Mrs Bush’s continued commitment to the people of Africa through the work of the George W. Bush Institute’s global leadership programmes,” said Atkins.