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Largest national HIV/AIDS conference taking place during June
Karen Bennett. Simeka TWS Communications 02 June 2005. Press Release released on behalf of Dira Sengwe Conferences.
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South Africa?’s biggest ever national meeting to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic takes place in Durban next week, when more than 4,000 delegates attend the 2nd South African AIDS Conference (ICC Durban, 7 ?– 10 June 2005).
This number of delegates represents a more than 20% increase in participants from the previous conference held in 2003. Registrants include scientists, medical professionals, social workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, activists, government, media and NGOs.
A record number of abstracts were received for presentation at the conference, and 100 were selected for oral presentation, while 361 will be displayed as posters. In addition, an exhibition of over 80 stands will focus on the latest technology, drugs and service and support systems put in place to assist with the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The conference?’s programme is arranged into four main tracks: Basic & Clinical Sciences; Epidemiology, Prevention & Public Health; Social & Economic Sciences, Human Rights & Ethics; and Best Practices & Programmes.
Hard-hitting discussions are anticipated in certain areas, with some sessions addressing the impact of treatment programs in the public and private sectors as well as the challenges presented by such programs, including access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
Conference chair, Prof Lynn Morris, believed the provision for ARV treatment in the public health sector would be a hot topic because this was a significant development since the last conference.
?“We will look at issues like how treatment programs are progressing, where the successes lie, and what the obstacles are. Are patients compliant; in other words, are they taking medication regularly, in the correct doses and at the right times? We also have presentations of results of the programme in the poorer, rural areas as well as those in the private sector,?” said Prof Morris.
There will be state-of the art plenary talks on a range of topics, including new generation microbicides to prevent HIV infection, the genetic diversity of HIV and trying to answer where HIV came from, scenario planning to address the potential impact that ARV will have on the epidemic, human rights and voluntary counseling. The Nkosi Johnson Memorial lecture will be given by Dr Mamphela Ramphele, a leading social thinker.
A mobile clinic at the conference will be set up to offer free HIV testing to all participants. This is to encourage openness about an individual?’s HIV status.
Mandatory testing ?– HIV testing that takes place as a legal requirement - is a topic that has come under heated debate in recent years, and the conference has scheduled a debate with those advocating mandatory testing and those opposed to it. Amongst other reasons, those opposed to mandatory testing believe a person?’s rights to choose whether they should be tested are violated; and those for this form of testing contend that early treatment of cases, such as HIV positive pregnant women and their unborn babies, would be more cost efficient than treating HIV infection after birth.
Debates will also address funding and when to start treatment, where debaters question if initiating ARV therapy on current guidelines ?– set out by the World Health Organisation in 2002 - is too late. The funding debate looks at whether funding should, or can, be streamlined.
An additional debate will look at HIV testing. This debate comes about following concerns for human rights violations stemming from stigma and discrimination, and limited treatment options for people living with HIV. HIV testing is primarily provided in the context of pre- and post-test counseling. With increasing access to ARVs, the landscape for testing and options for positive persons is rapidly changing. Delays in seeking treatment because of fear, shame, stigma and discrimination is impacting on health seeking behaviours of patients, and impacts on the therapeutic benefits of anti-retroviral therapy. This debate aims to encourage debate and discussion on HIV testing taking these new developments into account.
Other elements of the programme include symposia tackling business responses to HIV/AIDS (the financial and economic sustainability and ethics of workplace treatment programs), the interactions between HIV and TB (addressing the impact of HIV on TB, and highlighting the interactions between the immune system, antiretrovirals and TB), affordable diagnostics for monitoring responses to ARV treatment (looking at the wide array of technologies available for CD4 and viral load monitoring, and the dilemmas these pose for laboratories, and vaccines (highlighting HIV vaccine progress in South Africa and new advances in vaccine development).
Satellite sessions will address topics such as community involvement in HIV research, Voices from within: HIV positive people speak, BMS ?“Secure the Future?” community based treatment support programme, pediatric HIV infection: treatment options at the interface of research opportunities, Soul City ?– Communication in health, HIV and AIDS, and AIDS Care Watch.
Another highlight of the conference is a round table discussion chaired by Dr Olive Shisana addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on educators.
Pre-conference registrations are closed, however on-site registration will open at the ICC on Tuesday, 7 June 2005 at 09:00, at a cost of R3,400 per delegate.
For more information on the 2nd SA AIDS Conference, please visit http://www.sa-aidsconference.com
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