French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has agreed to work with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to serve as a Global Ambassador for the protection of mothers and children against AIDS, the Global Fund announced on December 1 2008, World AIDS Day. Bruni-Sarkozy will act, in her personal capacity, as a voice on the global stage for the many mothers and children infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, especially drawing attention to the need to give pregnant women and their children the means to prevent HIV infection and to fight the disease, the Global Fund said in a statement.

The statement quoted Dr Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, as saying: 'As an ambassador for this cause, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has chosen a major priority for prevention and access to treatment for scale-up of much needed health services. She will be giving a strong voice for the needs of a group who often are not heard on their own.'

According to the 2008 UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, the fight against AIDS is beginning to see strong success in some areas, such as providing treatment for those living with HIV, but frustratingly little progress has been made in preventing transmission of HIV from mothers to their children, and in assisting women protecting themselves from HIV infection, the statement said. Women are more physiologically and socially vulnerable to infection, suffering disproportionally from the epidemic's negative effects.