Carla Bruni prepares for AIDS trip to West Africa

London, Feb 11 (ANI): French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is preparing to make her first trip to Africa as a goodwill ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.

The model turned singer will travel to Burkina Faso to visit a hospital in the capital Ouagadougou and meet mothers and their children infected by HIV, reports Sky News.

While in the West African state, the beauty is due to meet health officials and charity workers and visit a centre that provides HIV-testing.

According to a UN report published in 2008, Burkina Faso has managed to bring down HIV infections from 7.4 percent in 1997 to 2 percent in 2005.

The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria appointed Bruni-Sarkozy as an ambassador for mothers and children at the end of last year.

She announced her new role on World Aids Day and pledged to use her celebrity status to draw attention to "the most vulnerable victims of Aids".

"I believe that we have gotten used to Aids," she said on the day her appointment was confirmed. (ANI)