The XX International AIDS Conference was held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia from 20 to 25 July 2014 at the

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are ow ...

. It was organized by 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 r ...

). Over 14,000 scientists, campaigners and politicians were expected to attend.

Conference proceedings

From July 20 to 25, 2014, Melbourne, Australia hosted the 20th

International AIDS Conference 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 r ...

. Speakers included Michael Kirby,

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. Clinton's focus was HIV treatment and he called for a greater levels of treatment provision worldwide; in an interview during the conference, Kirby focused on legal issues and their relationship to medication costs and vulnerable groups—Kirby concluded by calling for an international inquiry:

And what is needed, as the Global Commission on HIV and the Law pointed out, is a new inquiry at international level – inaugurated by the secretary-general of the United Nations – to investigate a reconciliation between the
right to health The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the U ...
and the right of authors to proper protection for their inventions. At the moment, all the eggs are in the basket of the authors, and it's not really a proportionate balance. And that's why the Global Commission suggested that there should be a high level of investigation.

Branson, Global Drug Commissioner at the time of the conference, stressed the importance of decriminalizing illicit injecting drug use to the prevention of HIV and, speaking in global terms, stated that "we're using too much money and far too many precious resources on incarceration". The Open Society Foundation launched the "To Protect and Serve How Police, Sex Workers, and People Who Use Drugs Are Joining Forces to Improve Health and Human Rights" report at the conference.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

The International AIDS Society confirmed that six delegates were killed in the crash of

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian forces on 17 July 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Cont ...

that was shot down over eastern

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

on 17 July 2014, though initial reports from other outlets reported numbers of up to 100 delegates. The six delegates, including former society president

Joep Lange Joseph Marie Albert "Joep" Lange (; 25 September 1954 – 17 July 2014) was a Dutch clinical researcher specialising in HIV therapy. He served as the president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004. He was a passenger on Malays ...

, were acknowledged during the conference at the AIDS 2014 Candlelight Vigil event. News of the crash broke as the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

was preparing to air a live performance of the ''

AIDS Memoir Quartet ''String Quartet: An AIDS Activist's Memoir in Music'', commonly abbreviated to ''AIDS Memoir Quartet'', is a musical composition by composer Lyle Chan which premiered in 2014. The work has been exclusively performed by the Acacia Quartet. The wor ...

'', a memorial work by former

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

activist

Lyle Chan Lyle Chan is an Australian composer known for his unique approach of writing cumulative works with only one work per genre. He has described his music as a diary or memoir, particularly of emotions. “I call it a perpetual work in progress," ...

. Presenter Julian Day and Lyle Chan dedicated the performance to the crash victims and their families.

References

External links

* International AIDS Conferences International conferences in Australia 2014 in Australia 2014 conferences 2010s in Melbourne July 2014 events in Australia {{international-org-stub