Washington DC confirmed as venue for 2012 International AIDS Conference

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Washington DC has been confirmed as the venue for the 2012 International AIDS Conference.

Organisers of the event, the International AIDS Society (IAS), decided to hold the conference in Washington after President Obama confirmed that US entry restrictions for people with HIV will end in January 2010. No International AIDS Conference has been held in the US since 1990 because of the US’s HIV travel ban.

“The return of the conference to the United States is the result of years of dedicated advocacy to end a misguided policy based on fear, rather than science, and represents a significant victory for public health and human rights,” said Dr Elly Katabira, IAS President-Elect.

Over 25,000 researchers, policy makers, advocates, people with HIV and media representatives are expected to gather for the conference, which will be held between 22 and 27 July 2012 at the Walter E Washington Convention Center.

IAS selected Washington DC as the venue for the conference because of the scale of the city’s HIV epidemic.

Robin Gorna, IAS Executive Director, explained that it was hoped the event would focus “attention on the particularly devastating impact HIV is having in Washington DC and in racial and ethnic communities across the US”.

HIV prevalence in the city is 3% – the threshold for a severe and generalised HIV epidemic is 1%. African Americans make up approximately 50% of Washington DC’s population but account for over three-quarters of its HIV cases. Some 7% of African American men in the city are HIV-positive, and a third of HIV infections are in women.

Holding the conference in Washington is also intended to recognise the US’s leading role in response to the global HIV epidemic. “US financial contributions have been crucial in our collective progress against AIDS in recent years,” said IAS President, Dr Julio Montaner. Washington is also the home city of several organisations that are key in the global response to HIV including the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator (which directs the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR), the National Institutes of Health, and the World Bank.

Next year’s International AIDS Conference will be held in Vienna and will focus on the emerging HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Russia.