Affiliated Independent Events

This event, an awareness day, is organized by NIMELSSA and will be held at Adeleke University on 2 May. “Omics” is a field of study of pooled biological sciences that end with “-omics”, such as genomics.

The event is an opportunity to understand and spread the word about issues encountered by young people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS and to celebrate the efforts that scientists are putting into responding to HIV.

Activities include:

• Explaining molecular tools and techniques to delegates to spread knowledge about adequate HIV diagnosis and treatment.

• Focusing on the “omics” revolution in molecular diagnosis and genomics of infectious diseases with emphasis on HIV diagnosis, monitoring and treatment in resource-limited environments, like Nigeria

INTEREST was launched in Kampala, Uganda, in 2007 and has become a leading scientific conference on HIV and other infectious diseases in Africa. INTEREST returns to Maputo, Mozambique, in 2023 after 13 years. Ilesh Jani, the Director General of the National Institute of Health/ Instituto Nacional de Saude, and Esperenca Sevene, of the Eduardo Mondlane University, are the Local Chairs.

INTEREST brings together scientists involved in HIV treatment, pathogenesis and prevention research in Africa to share pivotal findings, promote collaboration and transfer experiences across several fields and countries. It has maintained its core mandate of providing cutting-edge knowledge in the fields of treatment, pathogenesis and prevention of HIV-1 and related infections and chronic conditions. INTEREST fosters new research interactions among leading investigators and future scientific leaders in healthcare and research through capacity building for young investigators on the continent. Its all-plenary format enables active engagement by participants in all sessions, including in-depth symposia on current issues and abstract-driven sessions. With outstanding support from the conference organizers, the Amsterdam Institute of Global Health and Development and Virology Education in the Netherlands, INTEREST has consistently been highly evaluated by its participants and faculty.

The Asia-Pacific AIDS & Co-Infections Conference (APACC) 2023 will be held in Singapore, in person and virtually, from 8 to 10 June 2023. APACC is the premier scientific conference for HIV in the Asia-Pacific region, bringing together scientists involved in HIV treatment, pathogenesis and prevention research from around the world. It strives to address local and regional issues for the benefit of the Asia-Pacific medical community, from HIV healthcare professionals to community representatives to healthcare clients.
 
This meeting aims to:

• Build a community of healthcare professionals devoted to providing optimal clinical care for their clients.
• Create a platform for interactive information exchange on novel treatment strategies and options.
• Translate the latest studies and research achievements into clinical guidelines for the optimal management of people living with HIV.

Researchers are offered opportunities for interaction, networking and building collaborations. Experts integrate science and clinical practice through state-of-the-art lectures, clinical case discussions, roundtable discussions and debates to reach a consensus on best practices and inform how treatment guidelines are implemented. The conference gives early-career investigators a platform to present their data and communicate with colleagues and key opinion leaders. The programme will feature plenary sessions, symposia, oral abstract presentations, poster tours and poster viewing sessions, exhibition, and capacity-building sessions.

“Clinical Monday: Your way to begin a healthy week” is a live-streamed chat on various health-related issues and topics every Monday.
The 19 June event will be hosted by Vee kaNkosi, the brand ambassador and communications officer. The event will focus on treatment literacy and ways of amplifying Undetectable equals Untransmittable (U=U). The treatment literacy intervention has shown significant results in understanding how U=U messaging works. It inspires people who have recently been diagnosed with HIV and gives them the courage to start and stay on ART to attain U=U status.
The panel conversation will include clinicians, treatment experts and people living with HIV. The hybrid conversation will be on all our live-stream channels, including Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn and Twitter. 

The Baylor Foundation Malawi Local RAISE Symposium will be the second symposium organized by the Baylor Foundation Malawi RAISE (Research, Art, Innovation, Scholarship, Education). Its title is “Achieving global health equity: Focusing on evidence-based innovations, programming and research”. It will aim to catalyse the exchange of ideas through a showcase of innovative abstracts and interactive sessions, enhancing education and research skills among all Baylor Foundation Malawi service lines.

Delegates can expect to hear about the latest updates in paediatric and adolescent HIV care and treatment, women’s health, paediatric haematology and oncology and integrated outreach HIV care and treatment. Delegates will be able to learn from experiences and best practices and equip themselves with new knowledge and skills in implementation science.

ASHM is excited to announce that the International HIV Coinfection + Viral Hepatitis Elimination Conference will take place in Brisbane, Australia, ahead of IAS 2023. The theme is Innovation informing implementation.
 
 Recent years have seen transformative therapeutic developments for hepatitis C virus (HCV) that have driven an ambitious agenda towards global HCV elimination. Many countries have made initial advances in treating hepatitis C in those already engaged in care and in some micro-populations, including people living with HIV. Despite this early success, declining hepatitis C treatment rates mean that achieving the World Health Organization elimination goals by 2030 seems increasingly out of reach; new initiatives aimed at reaching those still untreated are required.
 
 In the field of hepatitis B virus (HBV), challenges exist. Without an effective cure, diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B and maintaining people in care remains a challenge. For those with chronic hepatitis B, who to treat with existing highly effective antivirals remains contentious, particularly considering the concept of “treat all”. Therapeutic advances towards HBV cure continue. Yet models for the use of novel agents are unclear, and ensuring global equity will be a major barrier. There is also controversy around broadened screening strategies towards universal one-off testing for both HBV and HCV.
 
 While viral hepatitis and HIV co-infection comes with significantly greater risk of morbidity and mortality than mono-infections, integrated models of care and prevention also provide substantive intervention opportunities. With ongoing advances in diagnostics, education and therapeutics for hepatitis C and B, the focus of this meeting is to explore and share innovative strategies and approaches that can be utilized to advance the field and ensure progress towards global elimination of hepatitis C and B.

The theme is achieving health equity for First Nations peoples in HIV and hepatitis in an increasingly inequitable world. Despite significant efforts, First Nations peoples in Australia and around the globe continue to face significant challenges in preventing, treating and managing HIV and hepatitis. The centring of Indigenous peoples’ expertise, experiences and leadership will be a feature of this conference, recognizing that this is what is required to drive equity for Indigenous peoples.  
 
Led by Co-Convenors James Ward (UQ Poche) and Edan Campbell-O’Brien, the conference will provide a culturally safe forum for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and other Indigenous health professionals internationally to advocate for the needs and interests of Indigenous peoples in global and state-led initiatives in HIV and hepatitis. Topics will include policy, programming and financing. Participants will discuss challenges and gaps across the sector and explore what is required to address HIV and hepatitis inequities among First Nations and Indigenous peoples. 
   
Scholarships are available for First Nations peoples and the conference is open to others who are prepared to come, listen and learn. 

The 15th International Workshop on HIV & Pediatrics is taking place in Brisbane, Australia, and virtually on 21-22 July 2023, just before IAS 2023. The organizers are delighted to invite you to celebrate this special edition of the workshop by joining in person or virtually. The workshop is chaired by Lynne Mofenson and Elaine Abrams and local chairs Claire Nourse and Adam Bartlett.

The two-day programme includes oral abstract and poster presentations, state-of-the-art lectures and more informal, exciting and interactive fora, including case presentations, debates and panel discussions. This is the only international workshop entirely devoted to research in prevention and treatment of HIV-1 in infants, children and adolescents.

The workshop brings together junior and senior investigators across a wide range of disciplines to share experience across the critical content areas, including HIV treatment and management, drug development, prevention of vertical transmission, co-infections and co-morbidities, paediatric cure research and implementation science.

Potential programme topics will be:

• Global update on paediatric HIV
• Paediatric care and treatment
• Co-morbidities and co-infections
• Prevention of new paediatric HIV acquisitions
• Adolescents and young adults

This half-day event follows up on the Global Summit at AIDS 2022 and aims to identify and explore the global research gaps, best practices in policy development and, critically, the political and structural priorities to ensure that people worldwide can access the ground-breaking developments arising from the implementation of the U=U message. The event is supported by ViiV Healthcare and ASHM.
 
Facilitators and speakers include:

• Bruce Richman is the Founding Executive Director of Prevention Access Campaign, which mobilized activists, researchers and public health officials to launch the U=U campaign in 2016.

• Cedric Pulliam is currently the Director of Global Public Policy at Prevention Access Campaign. Cedric is a board-certified health psychologist who practices within the healthcare systems and substance use fields.

• Daniel Grace is an Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and a Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Health.

• Kane Race is Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. He is internationally recognized for the original contributions he has made to the fields of HIV social research, critical drug studies and studies of digital sex.

• Linda-Gail Bekker is Deputy Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Chief Operating Officer of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation. She was President of the IAS from 2016 to 2018.

• Lucy Stackpool-Moore is a gender, human rights, HIV, public health and communications specialist, with experience in countries with varying income levels. In 2016, she founded Watipa CIC, where she is currently the Director

It's time to ACT on global HIV migration and health equity NOW.

Did you know there were an estimated 1 billion migrants worldwide in 2020, 281 million of whom were international migrants (3.6% of the world population)? Did you know that 46 countries impose mandatory HIV testing or some form of HIV-related restrictions that prevent people living with HIV from legally entering, transiting through, studying, working or residing in a country, solely based on their HIV status? Did you know that Australia is one of the few high-income, low HIV-prevalence countries that still impose HIV-related migration restrictions?

Whether you mobilize key populations at the grassroots level, develop government health and human rights policies, study HIV epidemiological trends, implement HIV programmes and services, make donor investments in civil society or have the lived experience of HIV migration, this event is about establishing the global priorities to challenge discriminatory and outdated laws, policy and practices and champion health equity for all.

With speakers from global health organizations, advocacy groups from around the world and people with lived experience of HIV migration and mobility, this high-level workshop is open to all.

This half-day community forum is a free event. However, space is limited and pre-registration is essential. It is supported by the IAS and Gilead.

The Community Social Hub Event will provide a unique opportunity for 300 people living with HIV and their allies from around the world to celebrate living with HIV and how far we have come. The event will provide a supportive and inclusive space to connect, share experiences and build meaningful relationships. The event will showcase entertainers from diverse communities living and closely connected with HIV.

This event will also launch the HIV Stigma Campaign in partnership with Wonderkarma alongside IAS 2023. This boldly beautiful campaign is built around gallery-worthy images of people living with HIV with the aim of disarming, provoking conversation by breaking current paradigms and building curiosity to find out more.

Tickets and more information will be available on the event page from May 2023.

“There is an art to science, and a science in art; the two are not enemies, but different aspects of the whole.” – Issac Asimov

NAPWHA is delighted to launch this event, bringing together 12 pieces of world-class HIV science re-envisioned through the prism of 12 artists from around the world. This project is the first of its kind, and the artwork and scientific manuscripts will be on exhibition during and after IAS 2023, from 23 July to 5 August 2023.

Supported by a team of international artistic and scientific curators, the exhibition will feature selected cutting-edge basic, clinical, implementation and prevention science in HIV for discussion at the conference. A selection of artists living with HIV around the world will re-envision the science.

The original pieces of artwork will be available by auction after the conference. Additionally, a limited number of prints signed by both the artist and scientific team, as well as a complete postcard set of copies of all 12 artworks and the companion science, will be available for purchase.

All funds raised through this project will be distributed back to HIV community efforts supporting people living with HIV across the Asia-Pacific region.

“Art can help unite people and amplify our collective efforts in the HIV response. IAS – the International AIDS Society – is proud to support the Science as Art project at IAS 2023 and is thrilled that all proceeds will support HIV programmes in the Asia-Pacific region.” – Sharon Lewin, IAS President

Join a discussion about the novel, Death in the Sauna, between Myles McGuire and author Dennis Altman.

This exciting launch event is the perfect opportunity to unwind after a long day of IAS 2023 sessions. A fictional story starts on the eve of a major international AIDS conference in London when the Conference chair is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Tracking down how he died reveals layers of deception, rivalry and danger for those close to him.

“Dennis Altman is a giant in academia and the gay rights movement, and with Death in the Sauna, he brings his insight and deft hand to a crime story that starts with a bang, so to speak, and leads us from the intrigues of a gay sauna into a tangled web of deception, rivalry and danger set against the backdrop of an international AIDS conference. There could be no better author to take us into this story of secret lives, sexuality, politics and competing agendas. A searing and enjoyable read.” – Tara Moss

Dennis Altman is Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at LaTrobe University in Melbourne. He was President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (2001-2005) and was listed by The Bulletin as one of the 100 most influential Australians ever. He is Patron of the Australian Queer Archives and the Pride Foundation.

“Imagine Agatha Christie parachuting into the heady world of gay saunas and HIV research, and you’re getting close to this delicious, camp and tightly-plotted murder mystery.” – Benjamin Law

This event consists of a conversation between Heather Ellis and Bec Fox about Heather’s book, Timeless on the Silk Road. 
   
Heather is a long-term survivor who has lived with HIV for 28 years. She is an HIV advocate, published author, journalist and motorcycle adventurer. After riding her motorcycle across Africa, Heather took the fabled Silk Roads of central Asia from London to Hanoi. Timeless on the Silk Road is the story of what happens after Heather is diagnosed with HIV in London. She is 30 years old and is given five years to live. It is 1995 when death from AIDS is likely, a year before the availability of effective antiretroviral treatment. 

Heather is a communications specialist in the HIV sector and works as communications and engagement coordinator for Positive Women Victoria, Australia’s only support and advocacy organization specifically funded for women living with HIV. Heather was the lead author of the Breastfeeding for Women with HIV Australia resource, which she presented at AIDS 2022. Heather is also a board director with the International Community of Women Living with HIV Asia Pacific and a member of the National Network of Women Living with HIV Australia with NAPWHA. She is on the HIV Cure Consortium Community Advisory Board and is an invited speaker at the welcome at the HIV Cure & Immunotherapy Forum, an IAS 2023 pre-meeting.  

Life with COVID: Transformation, adaption, evolution
 
The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically transformed our world over the past three years, with successive waves posing new challenges. With evolving expectations of what can be achieved through clinical medicine, research and public health efforts, we must adapt and thrive in the face of ongoing pressure and complexity. Join us at the 3rd Australasian COVID-19 Conference to explore how we have responded to these challenges and continue to do so.

This event consists of a workshop with refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people in Nairobi, Kenya.

AdNetA will highlight vulnerabilities that foster TB progression, including diagnoses of HIV and malaria. The event will explore tailored approaches that are applicable locally and anchored in international goals. Examples are promoting empathy, equality, equity, compassion, the right to health, non-discrimination, privacy, confidentiality, freedom to access services, TB detection, diagnosis, treatment, care and prevention.