This is the second time for Durban to host the conference, having hosted the 13th conference in 2000 under the theme “Breaking the Silence”.
Advertisement
US Global Aids Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy Deborah Birx said the conference’s return to the African continent was significant as it coincided with the 35th anniversary of the “first reported cases of Aids, a moment that would change the lives of millions of people around the globe”.
Among those attending the 21st biennial conference are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, activists including singer Elton John and actress Charlize Theron, and Britain’s Prince Harry. With $7 billion more a year we could be moving toward ensuring all people living with HIV have access to treatment, but instead they are trying to convince us we should choose-which people, which geography, which age or gender or sexuality – because there is not enough money.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO said “the enormous progress on HIV, particularly on treatment, is one of the big public health success stories of the century, But this is no time for complacency”.
But other statistics are less encouraging. “The challenge we face is to overthrow this rhetoric and turn it into a concrete, plain English (or plain any language) agenda about what precisely needs to be done to curtail HIV in the next phase of the global response”.
“If we don’t make the right strategic choices, we risk reversing hard-won gains”. The “delay is equivalent to defeat” Beyrer highlighted.
This inaugural TB pre-conference at the worldwide AIDS meeting will see global experts advancing knowledge and innovation on TB, promoting and sharing best practices to reinvigorate the global TB response, and galvanize political leadership and commitment to end TB by 2035, the IAS said.
The conference was a contentious affair, but its emotional impact transformed the AIDS campaign.
Campaigners accused drugs companies of providing life-saving drugs to HIV patients in rich countries but ignoring counterparts in poor economies.
The activists say world leaders gathered at the United Nations a few weeks ago and promised to end AIDS by 2030, but pointed out that 20 million of the 37 million people living with HIV do not have access to treatment.
HIV is one of the deadliest diseases humankind has ever faced, claiming 40 million lives since the peak of the epidemic in 1985.
Mbeki denied millions access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs, and a Harvard study later concluded his policies were responsible for 300,000 avoidable deaths in South Africa.
“If we fail to act, all the hard-earned gains made in HIV in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 15 years could be reversed”, Gates warned.
First up on Monday, July 18(14:45 – 16:45, Session Room 9), AHF will host a screening of “The People’s Hope”, a documentary recounting how AHF created the Ithembalabantu Clinic in KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa, giving hope to thousands when there was no hope or HIV/AIDS treatment available.
Advertisement
This post was syndicated from pulse.ng – Nigeria’s entertainment & lifestyle platform online.
