Kathmandu, August 31:

The UNAIDS today formed a Nepal Policy Advocacy Panel on HIV/AIDS with a view to drawing the attention of politicians and the government towards issues related to AIDS.

Lawmaker Chitralekha Yadav, former Minister for Health, Sharat Singh Bhandari, Shankar Sharma, Dr Bimal Prasad Koirala, Dr Mahesh Maskey, Dr Aruna Uprety, lawyer Sapana Pradhan Malla, Rajendra Khetan, Rajiv Kafle and Gagan Thapa are members of the panel. The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Matthew Kahane, reiterated the urgent need of an inclusive national leadership as well as improved capacity of implementing partners, including line ministries, for scaling up the response on HIV/AIDS.