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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.
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