Yes, no doubt numerous Ukrainians will have been asking the same thing as many of you dear readers. Who is Lord Fowler? To save explanation and my time click on his highlighted and embolden name to magically reach his Wikipedia entry.
For those of us old enough to have lived and worked during the Thatcher years in the UK, he needs little introduction.
Anyway, what is a Tory Peer doing in Ukraine?
The answer is AIDS. He is particularly clued up on all things AIDS and HIV related, not only in the UK but globally. People in the AIDS arena do actually know who he is outside the UK. He is actually listened to as somebody who knows what they are talking about when it comes to policy and policy development relating to AIDS.
Lord Fowler was in Ukraine for 3 days (10 - 13 April) getting a feel for where Ukraine is and what Ukraine can do to improve things. Without belittling the efforts of the past and current government, and there was and is some highly visible effort, particularly in the promotion of condoms and prevention through almost consistent advertising amongst other initiatives, there is of course much more to be done.
Its not really for me to thank him for coming to Ukraine and raising the issue, but I’m very pleased he did.