Why Rwanda?
The location of IAS 2025 will allow for a much-needed focus on challenges and opportunities in some of the world’s most HIV-affected regions, including the region hosting the conference.
IAS 2025 will take place on the continent of Africa at a critical time for progress in responding to HIV – reflecting successes and challenges. For the first time in the history of the pandemic, UNAIDS says, fewer HIV acquisitions occurred in central, eastern, southern and western Africa than in other regions in 2023, reflecting progress in prevention. Eastern and southern Africa recorded a 49% drop in new acquisitions and western and central Africa a 46% drop.
But these remain the regions most affected by HIV – central, eastern, southern and western Africa are home to 65% of all people living with HIV, and women and girls account for 62% of new acquisitions. HIV treatment coverage for children is low (only 35% of children living with HIV in western and central Africa received treatment in 2023). And stigma and discrimination, fuelled by criminalization of key populations in some countries, remain obstacles to accessing testing and treatment.
IAS 2025 will highlight what has worked in the HIV response across the continent and what has to be done to end HIV as a threat to public health and individual well-being. The conference will showcase the growing global contribution of African HIV research (from 5.1% in 1986 to 31.3% in 2020) and celebrate advances in HIV science on the continent. It will also explore areas of concern. For example, expect to find out more about:
- Abiding research gaps, particularly in paediatric HIV
- The emergence of strong African-led research, manufacturing and discovery
- Support for advancement of African scientists and research capacity
- Advances and challenges in HIV vaccine trials and epidemiology studies
- Biomedical and local interventions for HIV and other conditions, such as tuberculosis, mpox and malaria
The Rwandan model
IAS 2025 will be a platform to understand and appreciate Rwanda’s evidence-based approach to the HIV response. It is one of seven countries in Africa that have achieved the UNAIDS 95-95-95 testing and treatment targets for the general population. Rwanda set up a national AIDS case reporting system as long ago as 1984. The civil war that started in 1990 saw a genocide that claimed about 800,000 lives, and the country’s health infrastructure, including its strong HIV programme, was decimated.
Rebuilding after this catastrophe included dramatically increasing resources to respond to HIV, adopting a multi-sectoral approach to healthcare, and quickly rolling out a broad range of HIV services that reached people in both urban and rural communities. HIV prevalence in Rwanda was 2.7% in 2019-2020. It remains high among key populations: 35.5% among female sex workers, for example, and 6.5% among men who have sex with men.
Rwanda’s central location in Africa ensures that IAS 2025 is within easy reach for researchers, medical professionals, advocates and other stakeholders from across the continent.