AIDS Healthcare Foundation, UNAIDS, and Public Health England have signed on as sponsors for a global HIV/AIDS conference hosted by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) which will focus on prevention and treatment methods using antiretroviral drugs; the conference will take place at the Royal Garden Hotel in London on September 18 – 19
AHF MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jorge Saavedra, M.D, Global Ambassador for AHF +1.323.420.5493 [email protected]
Terri Ford, Chief of Global Advocacy & Policy +1.213.399.1001 mobile [email protected]
Ged Kenslea, Communications Director +1.323.308.1833 or mobile +1.323.791.5526 [email protected]
What: CONFERENCE – “Controlling the HIV Epidemic with Antiretrovirals: Avoiding the Cost of Inaction”
When: Thursday & Friday, September 18 – 19
9:00 am – 6:15 pm (9:00 – 18:15)
Where: Royal Garden Hotel
2-24 Kensington High Street
Kensington, London W8 4PT
Who: AHF Featured Panelists, Thursday September 18 – Panel 4: Testing and Linkage to Care as Gateways (or Closed Doors) to Successful HIV Control – 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm (14:30 – 15:15)
Terri Ford, Chief of Global Advocacy & Policy for AHF
Dr. Jorge Saavedra, Chief of Global Affairs for AHF (Moderator)
AHF Featured Presenter, Thursday September 18 – Plenary 4: Community Engagement – 5:15 pm – 5:45 pm (17:15 – 17:45)
Anna Zakowicz, MPH, Europe Advocacy and Partnership Director for AHF
LONDON (September 15, 2014) – AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has proudly signed on as a co-sponsor for the “Controlling the HIV Epidemic with Antiretrovirals: Avoiding the Cost of Inaction” conference, a gathering of leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS that will be hosted by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC) and will take place at the Royal Garden Hotel in London on September 18 and 19, 2014. Additional sponsors for the event include the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Public Health England.
The two-day meeting of minds will feature global leaders in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment discussing various approaches to controlling the global epidemic through the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART), medication which renders an HIV-positive individual’s viral load to be undetectable and thusly greatly reduces the risk of transmission to others. Methods to be discussed include the use of the HIV medication Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the global scale-up of access to ART for anyone living with HIV – also known as Treatment as Prevention (TasP) – which is an initiative that AHF has been spearheading around the world for years.
“This meeting is becoming a global platform to promote all the pillars of the cascade of HIV care. AHF is the global leader on the very first pillar of the cascade: HIV testing. We are honored by the invitation from IAPAC to join this event as a co-sponsor in recognition of this leadership,” said Dr. Jorge Saavedra, AHF’s Global Ambassador and former Head of the National AIDS Center of Mexico.
According to the Gap Report released by UNAIDS on July 10, which outlines the successes and challenges in global ART coverage presented in 2013, ART has prevented 7.6 million deaths globally since 1995, and has helped gain approximately 40.2 million life-years since the start of the epidemic. The report also showed that nearly 12.9 million people worldwide were receiving ART by the end of 2013 – 5.6 million of which were added since 2010 – and the percentage of people living with HIV who were not receiving ART has been reduced from 90% in 2006 to 63% in 2013. However, 22 million – or three out of five people living with HIV – are still not accessing ART, and three out of four children living with HIV (76%) also are not receiving HIV treatment.
Responding to the fact that, out of 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 24 million people still do not have access to AIDS treatment AHF spearheaded an innovative campaign in November 2013 called ‘20×20’. The groundbreaking global effort to scale up the number of people on lifesaving AIDS treatment aims to ensure that 20 million people worldwide are on antiretroviral treatment by the year 2020.