AIDS 2014 opening ceremony honours Flight MH17 dead with drive to end AIDS by 2030

published on July 20, 2014 in AIDSMAP

New ambitious 90% targets for testing, treatment coverage and undetectable viral load unveiled

The 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) opened in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday evening overshadowed by the deaths of 298 passengers aboard Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. Six delegates on their way to the conference were amongst those killed, including Professor Joep Lange, a former President of the International AIDS Society.

A one-minute global moment of remembrance was held in honour of the delegates who lost their lives at the beginning of the opening ceremony with eleven former, present and future Presidents of the International AIDS Society onstage together with representatives from those organisations who lost colleagues, the World Health Organization, AIDS Fonds, Stop AIDS Now, The Female Health Company, the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and members of the Dutch HIV research community.

Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, the current President of the International AIDS Society, told delegates, “The extent of the loss of our colleagues and friends is still hard for me to comprehend or express”.

Numerous tributes to Professor Joep Lange’s three-decade career in HIV medicine and advocacy have emphasised his central role in pioneering access to affordable combination antiretroviral therapy in lower-income countries. Professor Lange was also an early advocate for the necessity of using triple regimens of antiretroviral drugs from different classes in order to control HIV replication effectively.

Keith Alcorn
AIDSMAP
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AIDS 2014 opening ceremony honours Flight MH17 dead with drive to end AIDS by 2030

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