Submission of abstracts for the world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS, is now open. The organizers of the conference had announced on 1, November 2019. The International AIDS Conference is the premier global platform to advance the HIV response . Since its start in 1985, the conference continues to serve as an opportunity to strengthen policies and programmes that ensure an evidence-based response to HIV and related epidemics. The 23rd International AIDS Conference – known as AIDS 2020 – will be hosted in San Francisco and Oakland, US, on 6-10 July 2020 with the theme, Resilience. AIDS 2020 will gather more than 20,000 participants from more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.aids2020.org.
Recall that on 13 March 2018 (Geneva, Switzerland, the International AIDS Society (IAS) announced that San Francisco, California, in partnership with nearby Oakland, will host the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020). This is 30 years after the event was held there at the height of the epidemic in the United States.
“San Francisco is an inseparable part of the story of HIV/AIDS,” Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said. “It is fitting and deeply inspiring that advocates, researchers and survivors will return to the Bay Area for the 2020 International AIDS Conference.
“The people of San Francisco will never forget what it took to come from those darkest times, when many of us were going to two funerals a day, to a time when we are celebrating weddings and retirements of people with HIV.
“We must all continue to act with urgency, vigilance and compassion to end the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, address the health effects of aging and antiretroviral therapy for long-term survivors and build on the success of San Francisco’s community-based model of care. Together, we can banish this disease to the history books to achieve an AIDS-free generation.”
“The Bay Area has long been at the forefront of the AIDS epidemic,” US Congresswoman Barbara Lee said. “While San Francisco and Oakland emerged as an early epicentre of the crisis, these cities have also been a hub for AIDS activism, research and community support.
“It’s fitting that with an end to AIDS on the horizon, the International AIDS Conference will return to the Bay Area for the first time in 30 years.
“As the federal representative to the East Bay and co-chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus, I am pleased that this conference will shine a light on the groundbreaking HIV/AIDS advocacy and research taking place in Oakland.”
It was in San Francisco that a mysterious disease, later identified as AIDS, first emerged onto wide public awareness as a major issue in the early 1980s.
When the city hosted the 6th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1990), AIDS was well on its way to becoming the main cause of death of Americans aged 25 to 44. By 1995, the city had the highest percentage of people infected with HIV in the US, and by far, most were gay or bisexual men.
Although Oakland is fewer than 7 kilometres from San Francisco, different social and economic conditions in several East and West Oakland neighbourhoods have contributed to notable racial/ethnic inequities in the HIV burden. In 2014, there were 3,275 people living with HIV in Oakland. African Americans accounted for more than half of all new diagnoses and Latinos about 20%. The rate of new HIV diagnosis among African Americans from 2012 to 2014 was three times higher than that for whites.
“It is long overdue that the conference returns to the San Francisco and Oakland area,” Anton Pozniak, IAS President-Elect and AIDS 2020 International Chair, said. “The significant role these two cities have played in the history of HIV in the US for the past 30 years is unparalleled.
“The partnership of San Francisco and Oakland hosting AIDS 2020 serves as an apt metaphor for the global effort to end HIV – working together across political and social divides to achieve our goal of ending this pandemic.”
“Oakland is just across the bay from San Francisco,” Marsha Martin, DSW, Community Convener of the Fast Track Cities-Get Screened Oakland and Coordinating Director of the Global Network of Black People Working in HIV, added. “However, our epidemic and the resources we’ve been able to bring to it have been radically different from San Francisco’s.
“We are looking forward to furthering our partnerships with San Francisco, highlighting our collective progress, and sharing clinical and community leadership at AIDS 2020.”
The IAS is organizing AIDS 2020 in local partnership with the host city bid leaders–San Francisco Travel and San Francisco AIDS Foundation–and other bid committee members–University of California San Francisco, San Francisco Department of Public Health, Oakland Mayor’s Office, and Alameda County Public Health Department.
The US also hosted the 3rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1987) in Washington D.C. The event returned to the city in 2012 after the Obama administration lifted the 20-year-old HIV travel ban that barred entry of people living with HIV or AIDS to the US.
The 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) was held in Durban, South Africa, and the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 23-28 July 2018.
Focus on IAS
About the International AIDS Society: The mission of the International AIDS Society (IAS) is to lead collective action on every front of the global HIV response through its membership base, scientific authority and convening power. Founded in 1988, the IAS is the world’s largest association of HIV professionals, with members from more than 180 countries working on all fronts of the global response to HIV. Together, we advocate and drive urgent action to reduce the global impact of HIV. The IAS is also the steward of the world’s two most prestigious HIV conferences: the International AIDS Conference and the IAS Conference on HIV Science.
About the IAS Conference on HIV Science: The IAS Conference on HIV Science is the largest open scientific conference on HIV- and AIDS-related issues. The 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) takes place in Mexico City, Mexico, on 21-24 July 2019. More than 7,000 professionals from around the world are convening at IAS 2019 to examine the latest scientific developments in HIV-related research with a focus on moving science into practice and policy. IAS 2019 is organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS).
About the International AIDS Conference: The International AIDS Conference is the largest gathering on HIV and AIDS in the world. First convened during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, it continues to provide a unique forum for the intersection of science, advocacy and human rights. Each conference is an opportunity to strengthen policies and programmes that ensure an evidence-based response to the epidemic. The conference also serves as a focal point to intensify political and financial commitments to AIDS. The 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) will be hosted in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 23-27 July 2018, with the theme Breaking Barriers Building Bridges. Source – https://www.iasociety.org/The-latest/News/ArticleID/180/San-Francisco-and-Oakland-to-host-AIDS-2020