April 1985, Atlanta – 1st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1985)
2,000 participants. The conference is organized by the WHO, the US Department of Health and Human Services and major research institutes; it is led by American and European scientists and public health officials.

June 1987, Washington DC – III International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1987)
6,300 participants. For the first time, the fight goes political: during the conference several demonstrations against the lack of political commitment take place. Even if by May 1987 more than 20,000 had died of AIDS, US President Reagan is still reluctant to make a public statement about the epidemic. The protests are also against the US FDA as experimental treatments are slowed down by bureaucracy. Partly due to the protests, the conference receives widespread media coverage. Behavioural and sociological research begins to be more and more present at the conferences.

The US travel ban
the US government bans HIV-positive travelers from entering the country citing both public health concerns and the potential financial burden on US health service.

June 1989, Montreal – V International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1989)
Theme: The Scientific and Social Challenge of AIDS - 12,000 participants. Activists occupy centre stage during the conference: Canadian activists protest the lack of a federally-funded AIDS strategy, US activists denounce the US entry ban for people living with HIV and both want a greater involvement in the conference. During the same conference, Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda reveals that his son died of AIDS in1986, becoming the first African leader to speak about AIDS in his own family.

June 1991, Florence – VII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1991)
Theme: Science Challenging AIDS - 8,000 participants. This conference is quieter than the earlier ones. The theme of the conference highlights the importance of science in a time of growing desperation to halt the spread of HIV. Experts from Africa and India speak at the Opening Ceremony highlighting the growing burden of the epidemic in their countries.

June 1993, Berlin – IX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1993)
14,000 participants. Berlin is chosen to stress the importance of fighting racism and discrimination, “tear down the walls” is the refrain of the conference: walls between HIV positive and HIV negative people and between rich and poor. Unfortunately 1993 is a disappointing year in HIV research: the results of the Concorde trial of AZT monotherapy shows no medium- or long-term benefit; also, the economic impact of the AIDS epidemic is becoming more and more obvious.

July 1996, Vancouver – XI International AIDS Conference (AIDS 1996)
Theme: One World One Hope - 15,000 participants. After many years of disappointment the atmosphere is electric and full of hope as finally scientists are able to report a significant treatment breakthrough: highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) sees mortality and morbidity among patients drop dramatically and the prognosis for HIV disease shifts from almost certain death to a chronic illness. The term “Lazarus syndrome” is used to describe patients who return from the brink of death to good health. After the excitement, though, it becomes quickly evident that while the therapy can be used widely in high-income countries, in the areas of the world where the epidemic is more devastating the access to it is very limited.

July 2000, Durban – XIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2000)
Theme: Breaking the Silence - 12,000 participants.
This conference is enormously important in building momentum to change the approach to global public health. It is the first AIDS conference in a developing country, more importantly in a country with the highest HIV-prevalence rates in the world. The theme focuses on the staggering impact of the epidemic is sub-Saharan Africa and on the inequity in treatment access between the developed and the developing world.

South African President Thabo Mbeki declares he doubts AIDS occurred in South Africa and that, if so, it is caused not by HIV but by poverty. He also declares AIDS symptoms are side effects of ART produced by Western pharmaceutical companies. The minister of Health shares the same ideas and forbids the use of antiretrovirals to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

These declarations prompt 5,000 scientists from around the world to publish the “Durban Declaration” confirming the overwhelming scientific evidence about the etiology of AIDS. The Durban conference proves to be a unique opportunity to address both treatment inequity and denialism. During the closing ceremony Nelson Mandela speaks against the irresponsibility of the South African government on AIDS.

The success of the conference provides local organizers with a financial surplus that supports several national conferences in AIDS over the next years. A year after the conference the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS 2001) Declaration of Commitment establishes ambitious goals for treatment, prevention and care.

July 2002, Barcelona – XIV International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2002)
Theme: Knowledge and Commitment for Action - 18,500 participants. The conference registers a greater participation by women and individuals from low- and middle-income countries. The Durban effect from the conference in 2000 increases the importance of HIV on the world’s political stage; former President Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela are two of the high profile leaders to participate in the conference, this reflects the growing political commitment to respond to the epidemic after 2000 which enables the launch of programmes to scale up HIV interventions. Finally, the combination of events at the turn of the millennium including intense activism and corporate philanthropy in the pharmaceutical sector, lead to the dramatic reductions in the price of antiretrovirals.

July 2004, Bangkok – XV International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2004).
Theme: Access for All - 18,500 participants.The conference theme reflects the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment interventions and the growth in political attention and resources since Durban.Thailand is chosen partly for the high presence of PLHIV in the country and because the country has achieved significant reductions in HIV incidence.

Although Thailand registered a wide success, the “war on drugs” began by the Thai government was a big failure with 2,000 deaths and arrests. By hosting the conference there the organizers hope to highlight Thailand’s success while bringing global attention to the downside of criminal justice versus public health approach to injecting drug use.

The need to secure commitment on AIDS from political and other leaders leads to the launch of the Leadership Programme, whose objectives are to promote concrete commitments by political leaders in response to AIDS.

The IAS and partners also pilot the first Global Village and the Youth Programme. The Global village is open to the general public and works as a bridge between local communities and researchers, health professionals, leaders and community representatives taking part in the formal conference proceedings. The Youth Programme is an opportunity for thousands of young people from around the world to discuss the response to the epidemic and to generate new ideas for treatment, prevention and  human rights issues.

JIAS was founded by the International AIDS Society and is an indexed, peer-reviewed scientific journal that provides a platform to disseminate essential HIV research with the mission to contribute to an evidence-based response to the HIV epidemic and to support research capacity building in resource-limited settings. Illustrating its role as a valued resource, JIAS has a wide readership with an average of 7,500 readers each month in 2011, JIAS published 59 articles with an acceptance rate around 25%. Nearly 45% of published articles were submitted by researchers from low- and middle-income countries.

August 2008, Mexico City – XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008)
Theme: Universal Action Now - 24,000 participants. This is the first conference to be held in Latin America, its main focus is on the urgent need for action at all levels to achieve access to services in the health sector, and also to end stigma and discrimination and advance the human rights of all people, especially those most affected by HIV, the most marginalized communities in the world.

July, 2009, Cape Town, 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009)
6,800 participants. IAS 2009 is the first IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention to be held in Africa. The conference provided an overview of several new insights into the potential role of antiretroviral therapy to prevent HIV transmission as well as presenting evidence of treatment as prevention.

IAS NIDA Fellowship on Drug Use and HIV
With the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the International AIDS Society (IAS) has established a research fellowship programme focusing on HIV and drug use, with the goal of contributing to advances in the scientific understanding of drug use and HIV, while fostering international collaborative research on HIV and drug use.

July 2011, Rome – 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2011) 7,500 participants from 142 countries attended the largest IAS conference to date. After years of debate that considered HIV treatment as separate from HIV prevention, the results of four milestone trials presented at the conference demonstrated without any doubt that treatment with antiretrovirals is prevention: The HPTN 052 randomized trial enrolled HIV-discordant couples and showed that HIV transmission can be reduced by up to 96% if the HIV-positive person starts antiretroviral treatment early. Also, three different trials on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) showed that the daily intake of one or two ARV drugs reduced the risk of HIV transmission by 70% to 90%.

July 2011, Rome – Rome Statement for an HIV Cure
Given the re-emergence of interest and optimism in prospects for an HIV cure, the ‘Rome Statement for an HIV Cure’ was launched in conjunction with IAS 2011 as a call for accelerating research into an HIV cure.

July 2012, Washington, D.C – XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)
Theme: Turning the Tide Together – some 24,000 participants. The return of the IAC in the U.S. after 22 years of absence represents a victory for public health and human rights advocates who helped lifting the U.S. government ban for HIV-positive travelers from entering the country. The theme emphasizes that we have reached a pivotal moment in time and that seizing this potential and actually turning the tide on HIV and AIDS will require commitment and action on many levels.

July 2012, Washington, D.C – “Towards an HIV Cure” Global Scientific Strategy Launch
Formal launch of the strategy at a scientific symposium in Washington DC prior to AIDS 2012. The strategy was aimed at building a global consensus on the state of the HIV reservoirs research and defining scientific priorities that need to be addressed by future research to tackle HIV persistence in patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy. 

September 2012– The Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER)
The CIPHER initiative launched with the aim of answering outstanding clinical and operational research questions needed to optimize clinical management and delivery of HIV services for infants, children and adolescents. Through an unrestricted grant from the ViiV Healthcare UK Paediatric Innovation Seed Fund, the IAS has an opportunity to build on its proven track record in promoting paediatric HIV research.