WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has announced its involvement in a variety of activities around the 19th International AIDS Conference (known as AIDS 2012), which will be the first to be held in the U.S. in 22 years.
HRC will be hosting panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt open for public viewing in its downtown D.C. headquarters. The Quilt is one of the world’s most powerful symbols of the public’s response to the AIDS epidemic with more than 47,000 panels representing the lives of 94,000 individuals taken by AIDS, sewn by more than 100,000 friends and family members. Additionally, HRC will host a panel discussion and reception, an event for Members of Congress and their staff, a religion and faith forum and staff will be participating in a range of other events.
“HIV/AIDS remains a crisis that must be fought with everything we have,” said Joe Solmonese, HRC president. “We are so proud to welcome this important conference to Washington, D.C. made possible through the lifting of the draconian HIV travel ban.”
Years of advocacy to end the nation’s entry restrictions on people living with HIV (PLHIV) allowed the conference to return to the United States after 22 years of absence. This return represents a huge success for human rights and will have a positive impact on the response to HIV and AIDS both at a national and international level. The conference will also highlight the state of the epidemic in the United States, with a focus on Washington, D.C., where the impact of the disease is particularly high (in Washington, D.C., an estimated 3 percent of the population is living with HIV versus a U.S. percentage of 0.35 percent) especially within the African American and other minority communities.
The theme of AIDS 2012, Turning the Tide Together, has been selected to emphasize how a global and decisive commitment is crucial to change the course of the epidemic now that science is presenting promising results in HIV treatment and biomedical prevention.
“In the last few years various trials, including HPTN 052, TDF2, Partners PrEP, and iPrEx have demonstrated with solid evidence the efficacy of treatment as prevention, while other studies are currently investigating the possibility of a cure for HIV,” said Elly Katabira, international chair of AIDS 2012 and president of the International AIDS Society (IAS). “Thanks to these scientific advances, for the first time we have a real opportunity to put a major dent on the epidemic”.
