News

New studies to be presented at IAS 2021 – the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science – show important progress in HIV prevention, treatment and cure efforts despite major disruption to HIV programmes and research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several studies spotlight the intersection of the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics, including new evidence from a large-scale World Health Organization (WHO) analysis that HIV is a significant independent risk factor for severe COVID-19 illness at hospitalization ...

Helen McDowell has been elected as the ILF industry representative. Helen, who has worked in HIV for over 15 years, leads global public policy, access to medicine, advocacy and global public health initiatives, including public-private partnerships, for ViiV Healthcare. She is also an active member of GSK’s (ViiV’s majority shareholder) Global Health Leadership team. “At ViiV Healthcare, we have long believed in the impact and power of taking a partnership approach to tackling global health ...

Friday, 11 June 2021: IAS – the International AIDS Society – welcomes the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s adoption of the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. As outlined in the IAS Annual Letter launched at the start of the UN High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, overcoming HIV requires a concerted scientific effort on a global scale. This means more evidence-based policy and the elimination of stigmatizing, discriminatory and criminalizing laws and measures. At the same time, ...

Thursday, 27 May 2021: IAS – the International AIDS Society - supports the proposed Global Health Sector Strategies for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections for 2022–2030 (agenda item 26.4) and commends the strategic grouping of work on HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs within WHO. We stress the importance of ensuring a consultative process that considers the views of all relevant stakeholders. The past 40 years of the HIV response demonstrate the importance of science. Remark...

Tuesday, 25 May 2021: IAS – the International AIDS Society – announced today that AIDS 2022 – the 24th International AIDS Conference – will take place in Montreal, Canada, and virtually from 29 July to 2 August 2022 with pre-conference meetings set to begin on 27 July 2022. “We know that there is still a long way to go in the fight against HIV and AIDS,” said the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Canada’s Minister of Health. “In 2022, Canada will proudly host AIDS 2022 so that we can further our ...

Monday, 26 April 2021 (Geneva, Switzerland): IAS – the International AIDS Society – welcomes the appointment of its President, AdeebaKamarulzaman, to the newly formed World Health Organization (WHO) Science Council.   The Science Council will advise WHO on high-priority scientific issues that could have a direct impact on global health.   “Science must be at the heart of everything we do as global health advocates,” Kamarulzaman said. “Like the HIV pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic has demo...

Monday, 19 April 2021 (Geneva, Switzerland; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) –  Malaysia is facing a serious threat to human rights and the HIV response with the announcement by a cabinet minister of the government’s plans to expand the jurisdiction of religious courts and increase penalties for LGBTQ people. IAS – the International AIDS Society – strongly condemns the existing laws regarding same-sex relationships and the proposed amendment to strengthen Act 355, from 1965, which established state-...

Wednesday, 14 April, 2021 - I am honoured to join you at the plenary of the 64th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. My statement today is the result of the virtual pre-CND multi-stakeholders consultation organized by UNODC HIV Section in close collaboration with the IAS - International AIDS Society, World Health Organization, UNAIDS and INPUD. For people who use drugs, COVID-19 has added to an already difficult situation marked by widespread violations of human rights, criminalization...

The rapid development of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has been an unprecedented scientific achievement and offers a promise for a healthy post-pandemic future. However, inequitable vaccine access has jeopardised that vision, and our global governance institutions have failed to anticipate, prevent, or redress this inequality. As of March 21, 2021, 78% of 447 million deployed doses of COVID-19 vaccines were in only ten countries.1, 2 Nearly a quarter of the world's population might not ha...

Friday, 29 January, 2021 (Geneva, Switzerland) - On 28 January 2021, US President Joseph R. Biden signed an executive order repealing the harmful U.S. Mexico City Policy, more commonly known as the global gag rule. President Biden lifted these restrictions by signing the “Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad.” “IAS – the International AIDS Society - welcomes the end to the harmful global gag rule and urges the US administration to consider legislation preventing the ...