More than 340 Abstracts Accepted Representing Research from Five Continents

The organizers of the 2009 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting announced today that 345 abstracts have been selected to be presented at the upcoming meeting in Windhoek, Namibia. Reflecting the global scope of the response to the AIDS epidemic, the abstracts represent research spanning five continents. Through their presentations, authors will share information that will directly impact the future of HIV/AIDS program implementation.

The conference theme is “Optimizing the Response: Partnerships for Sustainability.” Reflecting this theme, presentations will focus on what program implementers are doing to meet the challenges affecting the scale-up of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care.

The meeting’s six research tracks cut across all subject matter areas of HIV/AIDS programming and include: Responding to Challenges in HIV Prevention; Women and Children; Effective HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support Programs for Men who Have Sex with Men, Drug-users, People in Prisons, and People in Sex Work; Evolving Challenges in Treatment, Laboratory, Care and Support Services; Performance-based Programming and Systems-strengthening; and Cross-cutting Issues.

“We look forward to engaging with host governments, multilateral organizations and other partners to collectively share successes and respond to challenges in HIV programming,” said Michele Moloney- Kitts, Assistant Coordinator for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). “This exchange will better position host countries to address their HIV epidemics over the long term.”

“Investments and efforts by international health partnerships in the fight against HIV and AIDS are beginning to show tremendous impact in many countries,” said Professor Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “In order to make this sustainable and scale up our efforts even more, it is important for all partners to meet regularly and share best practices and experiences on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care.”

“Bold actions are needed to help countries reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). “Making connections between implementing partners and sharing ideas to solutions will accelerate progress towards making universal access a reality.”

From June 10-14, more than 1,500 implementers from around the world will gather at the conference to share best practices and lessons learned during the implementation of multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS programs with a focus on optimizing the impact of prevention, treatment and care programs; enhancing program quality; promoting coordination among partners; and encouraging innovative responses.

"Children are no longer the missing face of the world's response to AIDS. This conference will be an opportunity to learn from countries where PMTCT and pediatric treatment have been scaled up," said Jimmy Kolker, Chief of HIV and AIDS for UNICEF. “Where implementation is lagging behind the evidence, such as mothers’ testing and early infant diagnosis, we must accelerate action. This meeting will also focus renewed attention on prevention among youth and protection for the children made vulnerable by AIDS."

"The financial crisis poses major risks to the sustainability of AIDS financing,” said Debrework Zewdie, Director of the Global HIV/AIDS Program at the World Bank. “So it is now more important than ever that we are coming together to help support countries in their efforts to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of prevention, treatment, and care in their programs.”

"As a global community, we have done relatively well scaling up HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. However, roughly two thirds of those in danger of their lives are still not accessing antiretroviral therapy,” noted Dr Kevin De Cock, Director of the World Health Organization HIV/AIDS Department. “The emergency of HIV/AIDS is by no means over, even if we have managed to blunt some of it with our interventions."

The meeting will be hosted by the Government of Namibia, and co-sponsored by PEPFAR; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; UNAIDS; UNICEF; the World Bank; the World Health Organization; and the Global Network of People Living with HIV. To view an agenda for the 2009 HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting or to learn more about the meeting, please visit www.hivimplementers.org .