AIDS 2004 Bangkok – final report, including audited financial results

The full report, summarizing key elements, evaluation, statistics and audited
financial results from the XV International AIDS Conference is available on the
internet.

This report gives the reader an overview of the XV International AIDS Conference
(AIDS 2004) that took place from 11-16 July 2004 in
Bangkok, Thailand.

The XV International AIDS Conference, through the participation of 19,843
delegates from over 160 countries, including 2,710 media representatives,
clearly confirmed the International AIDS Conference as the premier event that
shapes global perception and understanding of HIV/AIDS.

The International AIDS Conference has grown to become the largest health-related
conference in the world and attracts delegates from all walks of life, from the
whole community of people affected by, and concerned about, HIV/AIDS.

Key stakeholders include clinicians and other health workers; medical,
biomedical and social science researchers; social and community workers;
government and non-governmental agencies at all levels from local and regional
to national and international; the pharmaceutical industry and other businesses;
educators; the media; policy makers and leaders; faith-based communities,
activists, the United Nations Family and, most importantly of course, people
living with HIV themselves.

For one very intense and exciting week, the worlds of science, medicine,
business, communities, activists and artists converged in Bangkok to consider
and galvanize the global response to HIV/AIDS.

Since the first International AIDS Conference was held in Atlanta in 1985, the
International AIDS Conference has been evolving continuously to reflect the
changes required for an effective response to a developing epidemic. Early
international conferences focused on sharing research and medical findings about
what was then a new disease.

More recently, as understanding of the science of HIV infection has steadily
increased, attention has been increasingly devoted to developing understanding
in social, public health and community-related areas, including local and
national experiences in response to the epidemic. Thus while a few commentators
expressed disappointment at the prominence of "politics over science" in
Bangkok, they may have been missing an important point.

Scientists have had a good understanding of how to prevent HIV transmission for
over 15 years, and life-saving ARV treatments have been widely available in many
richer countries for 8 years. Yet HIV continues to spread dramatically while
less than 10% of those
worldwide needing treatment actually receive it.

So while the Conference remains a critical venue for discussing and
disseminating necessary scientific progress, it must also encompass
the broader issues. It will take leadership and solidarity - at the
family, community, workplace, national, regional and international
levels - to turn this epidemic around, and that is equally what the
conference in Bangkok was about.

During the week of the conference, an estimated 8,400 people
infected with HIV died across the world. With over 40 million now
infected, and an inadequate but still substantial 'AIDS industry'
responding to the epidemic in a myriad of ways, the International
AIDS Conferences held every 2 years are of vital importance for
gathering all the stakeholders together to take stock, disseminate
learning and consider new directions.

A pdf version of the report is available at the following url

http://www.iasociety.org/pdf/BangkokReport.pdf