Virtual AIDS 2020 meeting will highlight new data on HIV treatment, prevention
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The AIDS 2020 conference will be held virtually because of safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I expect outstanding discussions about both treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis, given the newly developed long-duration injectable drugs and increasing attention on the implementation of approaches like RAPID that might bring and retain more of those newly diagnosed with HIV to effective care,” Infectious Disease News Chief Medical Editor Paul A. Volberding, MD, professor of medicine and director of the AIDS Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, told Healio.
“As always,” Volberding said, “the International AIDS Conference provides a platform for discussing and challenging the many barriers to care and stigma faced by persons living with HIV in many countries and population groups in given countries. I expect that topic to be strongly evidenced at AIDS 2020 as well.”
The conference, which will be held from July 6 to July 10, will feature more than 600 virtual sessions and events. The International AIDS Society also will host a virtual COVID-19 conference featuring breaking research related to the pandemic.
Volberding said the pandemic made holding a physical conference difficult because of visa restrictions, which would make entry into the United States difficult for attendees from other countries. He emphasized that the meeting’s virtual format may make the meeting accessible to attendees who would have otherwise not been able to travel to San Francisco for a physical conference.
“Expectations were turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic and then by the economic meltdown globally and by the seismic shift in attitudes about racial injustice, particularly against Blacks in the U.S. given obvious and repeated police brutality,” Volberding said.
“I find attending the huge international conference to be affirming of my commitment to ending the HIV epidemic and urge colleagues to attend,” he concluded.
Those interested in attending can register here.
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