AIDS 2008

Shimmers of heat rising from the sidewalk and millions of conversations bouncing around the city: the seventeenth International AIDS Conference will take place August 3-8 in Mexico City. The first international meeting was in 1985, when the group gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, home of the American Centre for Disease Control. It was CDC scientists who were key players in identifying the pattern of symptoms that came to be known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) and later, AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). The international conference has evolved from a group of scientists puzzling through a definition of AIDS in Georgia to a  stew of scientists, activists, journalists, students, educators, social scientists, you name it.

The complexity of HIV’s effects on humanity is reflected in sessions which have expanded beyond scientific study to include presentations that look at social relationships, cultural and political power realities, race, class, geography and gender issues- factors that lead to the intimate moment required for HIV transmission from one person to the next.

This year’s theme is Universal Action Now, and as the days of the conference unfold, it will be interesting to see how that theme is translated by researchers and activists on the inside, and by the media to the world outside. At AIDS 2006, we saw  microbicides and women’s issues emerge as front runner news. We can hope that women’s issues will be up front in Mexico City too.

The October issue of The Positive Side will feature stories, impressions and  findings from the Conference. Until then, adios.

- Janet

This was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Education & Resources, News . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.

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