Statement confirming US as venue for AIDS 2012
Kajal Bhardwaj
WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 27, 2010. Washington, D.C., was confirmed by consensus today as the venue for the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) by the members of the Conference Coordinating Committee (CC Committee). AIDS 2012 will be held in July, 2012. The International AIDS Conference is a multi-disciplinary research conference that actively partners with people living with HIV and AIDS, affected communities, and political leaders to urge continued progress and equity in the global response to HIV and AIDS.
One of the key functions of an International AIDS Conference is to highlight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the host community. Washington, D.C., has among the highest HIV infection rates of any U.S. municipality, and the D.C. HIV/AIDS community in partnership with the Federal government has been doing extraordinary work in responding to an epidemic marked by extreme health disparities. For these reasons, the CC Committee agreed that locating the Conference in D.C. would shed attention on the critical issues of health disparities and on D.C.’s HIV/AIDS response.
The Conference has not been held in the U.S. for almost two decades, due to the long-standing restriction on HIV positive persons entering the U.S. The lifting of those restrictions by the U.S. government led to the decision to hold the Conference in the U.S. The CC Committee and its partners recognize that travel issues remain for some affected communities that wish to visit the U.S. and is committed to doing everything possible to maximize the participation of affected individuals, organizations, and communities.
The CC Committee is honoured to work alongside the local hosts and local and international partners to focus the attention of the world on at risk populations whether in the global south, or in the under-served communities of the global north—wherever people share the same challenges in receiving prevention, treatment and care.