Welcome to the official web site of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference!

The Conference web site allows you: Please, visit the pages with the Results of previous EECAAC2009, materials from Sessions (Presentations, and Abstract Book), Final Evaluation Report, Mass-media info, Press-releases and Conference Photo Gallery

Here you can see the list of the Conference Organising Committee and list of members of the Conference Programme Committees

Journalists are welcomed to the conference Press-center

UNITAID EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVES BREAKTHROUGH PLAN TO MAKE AIDS TREATMENT 
MORE WIDELY AVAILABLE AT LOWER COST PATENT POOL COULD SAVE OVER ONE BILLION  DOLLARS A YEAR
Geneva, 14 December 2009
Today UNITAID's Executive  Board made a landmark decision to establish a Patent Pool for AIDS medicines. The pool, scheduled to start operating in mid-2010, aims to  make newer medicines available in patient-adapted form, at lower prices, for  low- and middle-income countries. UNITAID has committed to provide start-up funds of up to US$ 4 million over the next year. Expected savings exceed one billion dollars a year, which will make more medicines available for  more people.
“This is an historic day,” said Philippe Douste-Blazy,  Chair of UNITAID's Executive Board. “UNITAID has now put in place a mechanism that will make medical advances work for the poor, while compensating companies for sharing their technology.” The Patent Pool will allow generic companies to make lower cost versions of widely patented new medicines by creating a common space for patent holders to license their technology in exchange for royalties. This will spur competition and further bring down the price of vital new and effective medicines, giving  hope to millions of patients. Companies with which UNITAID has had consultations include Gilead, Tibotec, Merck and Sequoia. UNITAID has  identified 19 products from nine companies for potential inclusion into the  pool. The pool will facilitate the development of fixed-dose combinations (FDCs). For some years now clinical evidence has revealed that these combinations are the best way for patients to access safe, effective  treatment. Until now, patents have created barriers to developing FDCs  combining newer and more effective drugs from different companies. Today,  with the first concrete step in the realization of the Patent Pool, the door  is open  for new FDCs to enter the market.
“FDCs are especially important in the  treatment of children, who make up 10% of current treatment needs,” said  Jorge Bermudez, UNITAID Executive Secretary. “The Patent Pool will  greatly help us accomplish our mission of scaling up treatment access,  particularly for specific target groups otherwise neglected by the market – that is, children and people who fail on older therapies.” The idea  of a Patent Pool has been in discussion for a number of years. In 2006,  Knowledge Ecology International and Médecins Sans Frontières proposed it  to UNITAID. Today UNITAID has become the first international body to  translate this idea into reality. “Today is a good day for people  living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries,” said Nelson Otwoma, the  HIV/AIDS community representative on UNITAID's Executive Board.
“When  my son was a baby we had to break pieces of adult tablets for him - treating him was  guess work. The Pool gives me hope that we'll have better medicines to  treat children in the future.” “We’ve had enormous interest from  companies and political support from numerous constituencies around the  globe,” said Ellen ‘t Hoen, in charge of the Patent Pool for  UNITAID. “We're now ready to move to the next phase - reaching  agreements with companies to get the drugs out.”
Contact: Daniela Bagozzi, UNITAID Communication,
Te. +41 22 791 45 44;
Mob. +41 79 475 54 90; 
Email bagozzid@who.intEllen

The 25th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board will be held in Geneva, Switzerland on 8 - 10 December 2009

Established in 1994 by a resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council and launched in January 1996, UNAIDS is guided by a Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) with representatives of 22 governments from all geographic regions, the UNAIDS Cosponsors, and five representatives of nongovernmental organizations, including associations of people living with HIV. The Programme Coordinating Board has the following broad functions: To establish broad policies and priorities for the Joint Programme, taking into account the provisions of General Assembly resolution 47/199; To review and decide upon the planning and execution of the Joint Programme. For this purpose it is kept informed of all aspects of the development of the Joint Programme and considers reports and recommendations submitted to it by the Executive Director, and the Committee of Cosponsoring Organizations (CCO) To review and approve the plan of action and budget for each financial period, prepared by the Executive Director and reviewed by the CCO; To review proposals of the Executive Director and approve arrangements for the financing of the Joint Programme; To review longer term plans of action and their financial implications; To review audited financial statements submitted by the Joint Programme; To make recommendations to the Cosponsoring Organizations regarding their activities in support of the Joint Programme, including those of mainstreaming; To review periodic reports that evaluate the progress of the Joint Programme towards the achievement of its goals. The representatives from the government of Russia and from NGO delegation of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are: Representative from the Russian government Aleksandr T. Goliusov – Head of HIV/AIDS Department of Rospotrebnadzor Representative from NGO of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Pavel Aksenov – Executive Director, All-Russia Harm reduction Network

UNAIDS

THE INTERNATIONAL AIDS SOCIETY ANNOUNCES WASHINGTON, DC, AS SITE OF THE XIX INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE IN JULY 2012
Removal of Entry Restrictions on People Living with HIV by the U.S. Allows for Return of Conference after 22-Year Absence

30 November 2009 (Washington, DC) — At the White House today, the International AIDS Society (IAS) announced that the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) will be held in Washington, DC, in July 2012. The IAS Governing Council decided to hold AIDS 2012 in Washington, DC, following U.S. President Barack Obama’s October announcement that the nation would end its entry restrictions on people living with HIV effective January 4, 2010. The conference was last held in the United States in 1990 in San Francisco, California.

“The return of the conference to the United States is the result of years of dedicated advocacy to end a misguided policy based on fear, rather than science, and represents a significant victory for public health and human rights,” said IAS President-Elect Dr. Elly Katabira, Professor of Medicine at Makerere University in Uganda, who will serve as the International Chair of AIDS 2012. “AIDS 2012 will be a tremendous opportunity for researchers from around the world to share the latest scientific advances in the field, learn from one another’s expertise, and develop strategies for advancing all facets of our collective efforts to treat and prevent HIV.”

The biennial International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policymakers, people living with HIV and others committed to ending the epidemic. AIDS 2012 is expected to convene more than 25,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including more than 2,500 journalists. The conference will be held from 22 to 27 July 2012 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

“We are extremely pleased that the United States’ new entry policy for people living with HIV reflects its key role in global efforts to combat AIDS, and we urge other nations with similar discriminatory policies still in place to follow suit,” said IAS President Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver, Canada. “U.S. financial contributions have been crucial to our collective progress against AIDS in recent years. The Group of Eight (G8) nations made a bold commitment in 2005 to work towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 and as the deadline approaches we urge all G8 members to continue to scale up their investments to match the challenges at hand, and fully fund efforts to achieve this goal.”

“We are gratified by the enthusiastic support expressed by our U.S. government and civil society partners today for holding AIDS 2012 in Washington, DC,“ said Dr. Diane Havlir, a member of the IAS Governing Council and Chief of the HIV/AIDS Division at University of California, San Francisco, who will serve as Local Co-Chair of AIDS 2012. “The world’s leading AIDS experts will gather for AIDS 2012 in a community deeply impacted by the epidemic, providing a tremendous opportunity for partnership and exchange that will further sow the seeds of solidarity among all of us dedicated to ending this scourge.”

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the IAS is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with 14,000 members in 190 countries. The IAS convenes the International AIDS Conference in partnership with a number of international bodies, including UNAIDS, the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, and the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, as well as local partners, which will be selected at a later date. The next conference (AIDS 2010) will be held from 18 to 23 July 2010 in Vienna, Austria (for more information, visit www.aids2010.org).

The U.S. has hosted three International AIDS Conferences. The very first International AIDS Conference was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985; the third, of what was then an annual conference, was held in Washington, DC, in 1987; and the sixth in San Francisco in 1990. The 1992 conference was originally slated for Boston but was moved to Amsterdam because of concerns related to U.S. restrictions on the entry of foreigners living with HIV. The IAS Governing Council adopted a policy in 1992 prohibiting it from holding its conferences in countries that restrict short-term entry of people living with HIV and AIDS, and/or require prospective HIV-positive visitors to declare their HIV status on visa application forms or other documentation required for entry into the country.

The IAS works with international partners to track and remove discriminatory HIV entry and immigration laws and policies. These laws do not protect public health, but rather fuel stigma and sustain a culture of exclusion, rights violations and marginalization that impedes an effective response to the epidemic. The IAS maintains a detailed database on HIV-Related Travel Restrictions throughout the world (www.hivtravel.org).

“AIDS 2012 will play a key role in shaping international responses to this devastating epidemic. As with all our conferences, we will work with partners to make sure that the conference has a deep and lasting impact in our host city and country,” said Robin Gorna, IAS Executive Director. “We look forward to partnering with the residents of Washington, DC, and with other groups across the U.S. to ensure the conference further strengthens the U.S. role in global AIDS initiatives, re-energizes the response to the U.S. domestic epidemic, and focuses attention on the particularly devastating impact HIV is having in Washington, DC, and in racial and ethnic minority communities across the U.S.”

HIV and AIDS have a disproportionate impact among racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. The estimated rate of new HIV infections among African Americans in 2006 was seven times the rate among Whites and the rate among Hispanic/Latino Americans was twice the rate among Whites. Three percent of Washington, DC, residents are known to be living with HIV and AIDS¬ – an HIV epidemic is generalized and severe when it reaches 1% in a geographic area. African Americans make up 53% of the population of Washington, DC, but account for 76% of those living with HIV and AIDS. Approximately seven percent of African American men in the city are diagnosed with HIV, and women account for nearly a third of people living with HIV.

An estimated 33.4 million people globally were living with HIV in 2008 with an estimated 2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million AIDS-related deaths that year. At least 5 million people living with HIV in need of treatment and care do not have access to it, and prevention programmes fail to reach many in need.

The selection of Washington, DC, as the AIDS 2012 venue is also significant as it is home to key players in the global response to AIDS, including the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (which directs PEPFAR – President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the National Institutes of Health and the World Bank.

The call for nominations for the 2010 Red Ribbon Award is now open

On this year’s World AIDS Day the UNAIDS family and the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) are announcing a global call for nominations for the 2010 Red Ribbon Award. The Award honours community-based organisations for their contributions in responding to the AIDS epidemic. The call has been made on World AIDS Day as people around the world come together in global solidarity for people living with HIV. This year’s theme is Human Rights and Universal Access which has been chosen to address the critical need to protect human rights and ensure universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. The biennial award, which will be presented at next summer’s International AIDS Conference in Vienna, will be awarded to 25 organisations which have shown outstanding community leadership and action on AIDS. All 25 awardees will receive a monetary prize of US$ 5,000 and five of the awardees will receive special recognition and an additional US$ 15,000 award. The five award categories for outstanding community leadership and action on AIDS are:

• Ensure that that people living with HIV receive treatment

• Support HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes for people who use drugs
• Remove punitive policies and laws, stigma and discrimination that block effective AIDS responses and marginalize key populations (men who have sex with men, transgender, sex workers and people in prisons)

• Stop violence against women and girls and promote gender equality

• Enhance social support for those affected by HIV, including orphans and vulnerable children

The Red Ribbon Award is supported by the entire UNAIDS family and the organisers of the XVIII International AIDS Conference where representatives from the 25 winning organizations will anchor an innovative community dialogue space to discuss their priorities, highlight their challenges, and engage with global leaders.
Winning a Red Ribbon Award is highly coveted by community organizations around the world, because the recognition it brings often leads to other awards, more visibility, more funding and other types of additional support. Nominations will be accepted from 1 December 2009 through 28 February 2010. Information can be found on www.redribbonaward.org or by contacting redribbonaward@undp.org. All community-based organisations working to halt and reverse the spread of HIV are encouraged to apply.

Red Ribbon Award