20th International AIDS Conference calls for end to discrimination against HIV patients

The programme of the 20^th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) is now online    

A declaration affirming that non-discrimination is fundamental to an evidence-based response to HIV and effective public health programmes was announced today by the organizers of the 20^th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014), to be held in Melbourne, Australia, from 20-25 July 2014.

"The enforcement of discriminatory and criminalising laws and policies against key affected populations is alarming," said Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, AIDS 2014 International Chair, President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. "Such practices clearly violate basic human rights and heavily undermine HIV programmes by posing barriers to access to HIV prevention, treatment and care."

All individuals and organizations involved in the global response to HIV and AIDS are encouraged to sign the declaration at: http://www.aids2014.org/declaration.aspx and to share it with their networks.

In preparation for the conference, a substantial amount of the AIDS 2014 programme is now available online: http://www.aids2014.org/WebContent/File/AIDS2014_Sessions_by_Date_and_Time.pdf

The full interactive AIDS 2014 programme with all abstracts listed will be available at the end of May through the Programme-At-A-Glance (PAG) at http://www.aids2014.org.

A welcome video has been launched featuring The Hon. Tony Abbott, Australia Prime Minister, The Hon. David Davis, Victorian Minister for Health and Ageing; Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne; Sam Venning, President of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Victoria; and the two Conference Co-Chairs, Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Professor Sharon Lewin.