News

IAS – the International AIDS Society – mourns the death of our former Governing Council member Scott Hammer, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Columbia University. A respected HIV researcher and physician, Dr Hammer passed away on 17 November 2021. “Dr Scott Hammer played a pivotal role in the development of the current HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) paradigm that has saved millions of lives,” IAS President Adeeba Kamarulzaman said. “He will be missed by us all.” A ...

IAS – the International AIDS Society – mourns the untimely death of IAS Member Dr Ly Penh Sun, Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD (NCHADS), Cambodia. A champion for HIV prevention and treatment across Asia and the Pacific, Dr Sun sadly passed away on 9 November 2021. “As Director of NCHAD, Dr Ly Penh Sun played a major role in Cambodia’s highly successful HIV response,” IAS President Adeeba Kamarulzaman said. “Cambodia was one of the few countries to achieve...

IAS – the International AIDS Society – today announced its partnership with Gilead Sciences to expand the Me & My Healthcare Provider campaign to three locations in Asia: Hong Kong; South Korea; and Taiwan and renew the programme in two locations in Latin America: Brazil and Mexico. The campaign promotes best practices in inclusive and stigma-free healthcare service delivery for people living with and affected by HIV.   Launched in 2015, Me & My Healthcare Provider promotes best prac...

  IAS – the International AIDS Society – applauds plans to nominate Dr John Nkengasong to lead the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Born in Cameroon, Dr Nkengasong has worked for many years in Africa, the world’s most heavily HIV-affected region where many PEPFAR programmes are implemented. “The role of African leadership is vital in the HIV response,” IAS President Adeeba Kamarulzaman said. “If confirmed in this position, Dr John Nkengasong’s understanding of the s...

  Yesterday Johnson and Johnson and its global partners announced that they would discontinue the large-scale Imbokodo HIV Vaccine Trial. Initial results showed that the vaccine did not provide significant protection against HIV infection in young women in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this disappointing news, IAS – the International AIDS Society – emphasizes the importance of continued investment and engagement in trials to find an effective vaccine. There is still a lot to be learned from thi...

“IAS – the International AIDS Society – warmly welcomes the news that a COVID-19 vaccine will soon also be produced in South Africa. Suffering driven by vaccine inequity would largely be a thing of the past if low- to middle-income countries had the capacity to control the production and distribution of life-saving vaccines. “But this good news comes with caveats. To truly empower low- to middle-income countries in the response to COVID-19 and future pandemics, the transfer of technologies ...

New studies to be presented at IAS 2021 – the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science – show important progress in HIV prevention, treatment and cure efforts despite major disruption to HIV programmes and research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several studies spotlight the intersection of the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics, including new evidence from a large-scale World Health Organization (WHO) analysis that HIV is a significant independent risk factor for severe COVID-19 illness at hospitalization ...

Helen McDowell has been elected as the ILF industry representative. Helen, who has worked in HIV for over 15 years, leads global public policy, access to medicine, advocacy and global public health initiatives, including public-private partnerships, for ViiV Healthcare. She is also an active member of GSK’s (ViiV’s majority shareholder) Global Health Leadership team. “At ViiV Healthcare, we have long believed in the impact and power of taking a partnership approach to tackling global health ...

Friday, 11 June 2021: IAS – the International AIDS Society – welcomes the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s adoption of the 2021 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. As outlined in the IAS Annual Letter launched at the start of the UN High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS, overcoming HIV requires a concerted scientific effort on a global scale. This means more evidence-based policy and the elimination of stigmatizing, discriminatory and criminalizing laws and measures. At the same time, ...

Thursday, 27 May 2021: IAS – the International AIDS Society - supports the proposed Global Health Sector Strategies for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections for 2022–2030 (agenda item 26.4) and commends the strategic grouping of work on HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs within WHO. We stress the importance of ensuring a consultative process that considers the views of all relevant stakeholders. The past 40 years of the HIV response demonstrate the importance of science. Remark...