International Conference on AIDS

Ajarn Sanan Wutti and Erlinda Senturias attending the IAC.

 AIDS 2012 is the 19th International AIDS Conference and the first to be held in the United States for over 20 years. IACs are held every two years and are the peak forum for those working in the field of HIV and AIDS, including scientists and researchers, policymakers, health professionals, people living with HIV, civil society activists and faith-based organizations.  AIDS 2012 is taking place 22-27 July at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The XIX International AIDS Conference opened in 

Washington, D.C., on Sunday and "is expected to draw 25,000 people, including politicians, scientists and activists, as well as some of the estimated 34 million people living with HIV who will tell their stories," Agence France-Presse reports (Sheridan, 7/22). "Researchers, doctors and patients attending the world's largest AIDS conference are urging the world's governments not to cut back on the fight against the epidemic when it is at a turning point," the Associated Press writes, adding, "There is no cure or vaccine yet, but scientists say they have the tools to finally stem the spread of this intractable virus -- largely by using treatment not just to save patients but to make them less infectious, too" (Neergaard, 7/22). "New breakthroughs in research will be announced, as will new efforts by governments and organizations to reduce the spread of HIV, to treat those who have it, and to work, eventually, toward a vaccine and a cure," the Seattle Times writes (Tate, 7/22). According to the Washington Post's "Blog Post," three remaining challenges to be addressed at the conference include: "More research into treatment and prevention, and more ways to deliver treatments"; reaching marginalized populations, such as men who have sex with men and sex workers; and "[i]ncreasing funding for PEPFAR and other anti-AIDS programs" (Khazan, 7/20).