Fifth IAS Conference Gathers Leading AIDS Scientists and Global Delegates
Failure of the G8 leadership to fulfill their commitments and “treatment as prevention” approach were the main topics of discussion at this year’s conference
More than 7,000 top AIDS scientists, public health experts and community leaders from around the world convened at the recently concluded fifth International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention held in July in Cape Town, South Africa. The objectives of the conference were to present the latest developments in HIV/AIDS research, promote global dialogue, and examine the steps moving forward to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Among the topics discussed at the conference, the G8 leadership’s failure to meet their HIV/AIDS funding commitments and the “treatment as prevention” approach topped the agenda.
Renowned HIV/AIDS representatives unanimously criticized G8 countries for ignoring HIV/AIDS during the 2009 G8 Summit in Italy and failing to fulfill their promises to provide “universal access” to prevention and treatment for HIV/AIDS by 2010. They warned of a looming health disaster if governments abandoned their pledge to fight the disease. Dr. Julio Montaner, president of the IAS and director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS said, “The silence of the G8 leaders is not just pathetic, it is criminal.”
He noted that due to lack of funding, 12 million people in poorer countries are unable to get the antiretrovirals (ARVs) they desperately need to save their lives.
In his speech to inaugurate the conference, Dr. Montaner started by praising the dramatic progress made in the past few years to increase access to HIV/AIDS treatment, care and prevention services, especially in resource-limited countries. “We have gone from virtually no access to well over three million people on antiretrovirals in low and middle-income countries. This is a tremendous success,” said Dr. Montaner.
However, Dr. Montaner cautioned the gathering of the challenges ahead in the face of an unprecedented economic downturn. He said the global recession “represents an immediate threat to the progress we have witnessed over the last decade. A retrenchment now would be catastrophic… We know what needs to be done, yet implementation flounders, costing thousands of lives each day.”