A report from the XVII International AIDS Conference
Nicola Bradley reports from the XVII International AIDS Conference being held in Mexico City this week.
In Mexico City, 21 000 delegates from all over the world have gathered for the XVII International AIDS conference. Speakers at the opening ceremony included Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Dr. Pedro Cahn, President of the International AIDS Society. The conference is the largest to ever be held in Latin America, receiving 11 000 abstracts, 7800 of which will be presented. The second largest group contributing to this number were Latin American and Caribbean papers.
Dr. Cahn warned that currently the world is not on target to keep promises to provide universal access to treatment by 2010. “It appears that we are poised to accept defeat when victory is still within our grasp. Our failure to meet these commitments will have an impact on millions of lives. This cannot be allowed to happen. It is time for nations to live up to their commitments. It is time for universal action, now!” This final phrase was echoed throughout the evening by all speakers, particularly Ban Ki-Moon, who encouraged G8 nations to keep their promises as well as personally committing himself to action stating, “You can count on me”.
Other encouraging news came from President Calderon who announced that foreign laboratories would be allowed to manufacture generic anti-retroviral medication on Mexican soil and that all Mexican citizens living with HIV will receive access to free treatment.
Despite these positive moves, it was made clear that this pandemic is far from over. Ban Ki-Moon acknowledged that there is still a huge shortfall in resources and long term, sustained finances were required. He urged the governments of nations to address the stigma of HIV/AIDS by changing policy with regards to discrimination, homophobia, and the migration of people living with HIV. ‘HIV is a viral infection, not a political one’, Dr Luis Soto-Ramirez, Co-Chair of AIDS 2008.
Congratulations were sent to the U.S. who have made a promising move by taking action to end the travel and immigration ban on people living with HIV. This was signed into law on Tuesday 30 July but further action will be needed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to actually end the ban. It was encouraged that other countries would follow this lead. The International AIDS conference has made a stand against this ban since 1990 by refusing to hold the conference in the U.S. for the past two decades.
The opening ceremony was full of powerful words and moving testimony and throughout the week hundreds of events are being held covering every aspect of this huge topic. It is hoped that these meetings will fuel action around the world to combat this human tragedy, and for the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, this cannot come soon enough.
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