21 July 2024 (Munich, Germany) – Holding large global conferences always means weighing many factors, including finding a place that is both safe for the most marginalized among us and will welcome citizens from the countries most affected by HIV.
The IAS Executive Board, following consultations with civil society, selected Munich because we are confident that it provides a safe and welcoming space for our delegates, especially for key populations criminalized and stigmatized in too many parts of the world. After frustrations in Montreal, Canada, for AIDS 2022, we have worked proactively with authorities. A total of 693 AIDS 2024 scholarship recipients applied for visas: 85% were approved and 14% were denied.
While these figures reflect a vast improvement since the last conference in Montreal, we constantly strive to do better and call on authorities all over the world to proactively enable all to have access to vital public health meetings. Our goal is for everyone to be able to participate and for our conferences to be as accessible as possible, both in person and virtually.
To advance this vision, our global rotation policy means the next IAS conferences will take place in Lima, Peru (HIVR4P 2024) and Kigali, Rwanda (IAS 2025), followed by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean region (AIDS 2026) and Asia and the Pacific (HIVR4P 2026).