The XVIII International AIDS Conference was held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria from July 18–23, 2010.

Conference theme

The theme of the conference was "Knowledge and Commitment for Action." The

International AIDS Society The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world's largest association of HIV/AIDS professionals, with 11,600 members from over 170 countries , including clinicians, people living with HIV, service providers, policy makers and others. It aims to ...

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.

Protest

The conference opened with

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

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." 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 Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...

and

respiratory disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bro ...

. At the Vienna conference, protesters were asserting that in any case HIV prevention and AIDS treatment were priorities. Protesters accused

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

of reneging on commitments to fund the global campaign against AIDS.

PEPFAR The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President Geo ...

director

Eric Goosby Eric Goosby (born 1952) is an American public health official, currently serving as the UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis. Goosby previously served as the Global AIDS Coordinator (U.S.), United States Global AIDS Coordinator from 2009 until mid-Nov ...

was the target of some of these protests. Desmond Tutu stated that he was "saddened by (Obama's) decision to spend less than he promised to treat AIDS patients in Africa." The

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

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.

Highlights

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ...

and Stop TB Partnership recognized that worldwide most people with HIV ultimately die of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

, 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. The

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

reported that there were large disparities in availability of care between

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

and

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and noted that increases in infection were increasing more rapidly in the East than the West. 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.

References

External links

*
Kaiser Global Health conference coverage

{{DEFAULTSORT:International AIDS Conference, 2010 International AIDS Conferences International conferences in Austria 2010 in Austria 2010 conferences 2010s in Vienna July 2010 events in Europe