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When the first people living with HIV were recognized in 1982, the world’s health systems were not prepared to address a new and rapidly expanding epidemic. Almost 40 years after the appearance of AIDS, much has changed. AIDS-related deaths continue to decline as antiretroviral treatment coverage rose to 62% in 2018.

This week, you and more than 5,900 other professionals from nearly 130 countries made IAS 2019 a conference to remember. Across 1,300 abstracts, selected from more than 3,000 submissions, this 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science marked several key milestones in the global response to HIV.

The results released yesterday of a large clinical research study ‒ known as the Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes (ECHO) ‒ sought to resolve long-standing questions on a potential link between hormonal contraceptive use and the risk of HIV acquisition. Although the results found no significant difference in HIV risk among women using one of three highly effective contraceptive methods in the trial, it is not all good news. The findings showed high rates of HIV acquisition.

The International AIDS Society (IAS) welcomes the emphasis that the World Health Organization (WHO) places on universal health coverage (UHC), tuberculosis (TB) and vaccines in the agenda for the 72nd World Health Assembly. The IAS commends the prioritisation of efforts to ensure that no one is left behind in reaching the health targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals. Across the world, for a variety of cultural, social, political and religious reasons, accessing services is still ...

Anton Pozniak, IAS President I was treating a woman named Cindy who had just immigrated to the United Kingdom from a country where tuberculosis (TB) is endemic. She had started her first job as a nanny for two children. She came to me coughing up blood, experiencing chest pain and with a high fever. We diagnosed her with TB. She also tested HIV positive. When her employers found out, they fired her and, at the same time, her boyfriend left her. Within weeks, Cindy’s whole life was turned upsi...

The 26th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2019) has just concluded in Seattle, Washington, United States. International AIDS Society (IAS) Members made dozens of presentations at the meeting. Here are a few of the stories that had attendees and the media talking. Second HIV “cure” reported Until now, researchers have not been able to duplicate the cure for HIV infection that Timothy Ray Brown (the “Berlin Patient”) experienced after receiving a bone marrow trans...

By Judy Chang, IAS Member and Executive Director of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs “In a marketplace of experiences, the privileged inevitably have more platforms from which to narrate, and the marginalised are often spoken for within agendas which are not their own.” Alison Phipps 2016, p. 5-6, Sussex University I am a feminist. I am a woman who uses drugs. Up until recently, these identities have been mutually exclusive, having rarely been held together in the same co...