XVIII International AIDS Conference, 2010

The XVIII International AIDS Conference was held in Vienna, Austria from July 18–23, 2010.

Conference theme

The theme of the conference was "Knowledge and Commitment for Action." The International AIDS Society selected this theme to emphasize the need for the general community and public and private sector organizations, scientists, and social workers to commit to use the knowledge gained through science and experience take action.[1]

Protest

The conference opened with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pointing out that funding by rich economies for poor countries fighting HIV/AIDS was reduced to 7.6 billion dollars from 7.7 billion dollars in 2008. The countries cut funding because of the Late-2000s financial crisis. Ki-moon stated that "Some governments are cutting back on their response to AIDS. This should be a cause for great concern to us all. We must ensure that our recent gains are not reversed."[2]

In the United States, the political concern was to give aid to save the most number of lives at the least cost, and there was a debate which argued that more people could be saved by diverting money which had formerly been committed to fighting HIV to instead treating diarrhea and respiratory disease.[3] At the Vienna conference, protesters were asserting that in any case HIV prevention and AIDS treatment were priorities. Protesters accused Barack Obama of reneging on commitments to fund the global campaign against AIDS. PEPFAR director Eric Goosby was the target of some of these protests.[4] Desmond Tutu stated that he was "saddened by (Obama's) decision to spend less than he promised to treat AIDS patients in Africa."[5] The White House responded by pointing out that the United States had provided 58% of all funds worldwide for fighting AIDS in developing countries and by saying that the attack on AIDS must be comprehensive and include factors other than efforts directed against HIV.[6]

Highlights

UNAIDS and Stop TB Partnership recognized that worldwide most people with HIV ultimately die of tuberculosis, and they announced a program which had the goal of reducing the 200,000 per year death rate due to HIV and TB to half by 2015.[7]

The WHO reported that there were large disparities in availability of care between Eastern Europe and Western Europe and noted that increases in infection were increasing more rapidly in the East than the West.[8]

The U.N. Development Program and the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health presented a study linking the criminalization of homosexuality to an increase in Asia's HIV infection rates.[9]

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References
  1. "XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010)". World Health Organization. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  2. Ingham, Richard (18 July 2010). "AFP: Funding crisis darkens mood at AIDS forum". google.com. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  3. Walensky, R. P.; Kuritzkes, D. R. (2010). "The Impact of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPfAR) beyond HIV and Why It Remains Essential". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 50 (2): 272–275. doi:10.1086/649214. PMID 19947830.
  4. Boseley, Sarah (21 July 2010). "Barack Obama 'hurt' by global Aids funding criticism". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  5. Desmond Tutu (20 July 2010). "Op-Ed Contributor - Obama's Overdue AIDS Bill". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  6. Smith, Gayle (21 July 2010). "The President's Commitment to Fight HIV/AIDS". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  7. "AIDS 2010: Halving HIV/TB Co-infection Deaths; Financial Transaction Tax Discussed, And More". globalhealth.kff.org. 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  8. Kelland, Kate (21 July 2010). "WHO criticizes big divide in tackling HIV in Europe | Reuters". reuters.com. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  9. Dewan, Angela (21 July 2010). "Study Links Discrimination of Homosexuals With Rising HIV Cases in Asia". voanews.com. Voice of America. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
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