Vienna, Austria has been chosen to host the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), the largest international meeting on HIV, where every two years 25,000 participants representing all stakeholders in the global response to HIV meet to assess progress and identify future priorities. AIDS 2010 is organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS), in partnership with government, scientific and civil society partners in Austria and international partners from civil society and the United Nations. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the IAS is the world’s leading independent association of HIV professionals.

“The International AIDS Society and its partners are extremely pleased to partner with the City of Vienna, the Government of Austria and local scientific and community leaders, who have a long history of leadership on HIV issues,” said IAS President-elect, Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and International Conference Chair for AIDS 2010. “Because the 2010 conference will coincide with the deadline that world leaders set for the goal of providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, all eyes of the world will be upon Vienna.”

“Vienna has through history been seen as a crossroads between Western and Eastern Europe, and it will continue to serve that role as host of the conference," said Dr. Montaner. "The conference is an opportunity to look specifically at the challenges facing the emerging epidemics in Eastern Europe in the context of hardest hit regions around the world and the overall global response”, thus Montaner.

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), an estimated 150,000 people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were newly infected with HIV in 2007 bringing the number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the region to 1.6 million. This compares with 630,000 PLHIV in 2001, an increase of 150%. Worldwide, an estimated 33.2 million people are living with HIV and more than 2.1 million people died of AIDS in 2007.
Conference Programme

Internet: http://www.aids2010.org/

Held every two years, the conference attracts about 5,000 delegates from all over the world. It is a unique opportunity for the world’s leading scientists, clinicians, public health experts and community leaders to examine the latest developments in HIV-related research, and to explore how scientific advances can – in very practical ways – inform the global response to HIV/AIDS.

IAS President-Elect, Dr Julio Montaner (Canada) has been appointed the International Chair of the conference, while South African paediatrician, Prof Hoosen Coovadia has accepted the Local Chair position.

“We are delighted to host this conference in South Africa,” said Dr Montaner. “In 2000, Durban hosted the XIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2000), an event which is often considered to be the one of the most successful in the series of International AIDS Conferences. Cape Town was selected as the host for the IAS conference based on the success of AIDS 2000, and because it has the infrastructure necessary to host an event of this size. Most importantly, we wanted to bring this conference to Sub-Saharan Africa, where the HIV epidemic is at its worst.”

As an international expert on paediatric AIDS, and past chair of AIDS 2000 and the 1st South African AIDS Conference, Prof Coovadia brings a wealth of experience and insight to the event. “The IAS conference is the premier forum for participants to learn about the latest developments in HIV science and also explore how such developments can be realistically applied to the regional and global response to HIV/AIDS. We look forward to welcoming delegates to Cape Town”, said Prof Coovadia.

Internet: http://www.ias2009.org/

The expansion of AIDS treatment and HIV disease management represents the most dramatic change in health care for decades. HIV has rekindled global awareness of the role of health in human development, and has drawn attention to the shortage of up to 4 million health workers globally and the under-funding and systemic deficiencies of the health sector. In this context, concerns have been raised about the impact of disease-specific scale-up on other health services, and on the fragile health systems of resource-limited settings. There is emerging evidence that, if managed correctly, the AIDS response represents a unique opportunity to strengthen the wider health sector.
The IAS, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, will convene an invitation only meeting for up to 100 researchers and implementers in Cape Town, South Africa, immediately preceding the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009).

The specific objectives of the pre-conference meeting are to:

• Review results and progress from the work currently being carried out in the area of HIV and health systems strengthening by a range of international experts
• Provide a platform for profiling ongoing research, and dissemination of existing case studies and best practices on how to leverage HIV scale-up to strengthen weak health systems
• Mobilize researchers and implementers working in the HIV and the health systems fields to collaborate to define methodologies; and accelerate research and rigorous evaluation required to answer vital questions on the impact of HIV programming on health systems strengthening
• Highlight key policy priorities and strategies required to leverage the impact of HIV programming on health systems strengthening.

Dr. Jacqueline Bataringaya
Senior Policy Adviser
International AIDS Society (IAS)
Avenue Louis-Casaii 71
Postal Address P.O. Box 28
CH-1216 Cointrin
Geneva - Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)22 710 0800
Fax: +41 (0)22 710 0899
Email: jacqueline.bataringaya@iasociety.org or HealthSystems2009@iasociety.org
Internet: http://www.iasociety.org/Default.aspx?pageId=344