The Huffington Post
Mitchell Warren
Original Article: huff.to/19qwcF9
In 2015, the International AIDS Society (IAS) will hold a conference in Vancouver, returning to the city for a large-scale meeting the first time since the 1996 AIDS Conference that heralded the beginning of the era of highly active antiretroviral treatment. And in 2016, the IAS will convene the large, biennial International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa — 16 years after the 2000 conference that revolutionized global expectations of AIDS treatment in low-income settings.
The 1996 and 2000 conferences are by many accounts the two most significant global AIDS meetings that have ever taken place. And it is possible, if the right steps are taken, the right funds committed, the right programs implemented and the right partners engaged that the 2015 and 2016 meetings could prove to be watershed moments in the field.
These are big "ifs."
The most pressing and fundamental question is one of financial resources. If global investment doesn’t match the price tag for expanded, comprehensive prevention, then all the plans and targets in the world are irrelevant.
But if it does, then by 2016, we could begin to see evidence of downward slopes that confirm we’re on track to beginning to end the AIDS epidemic in our lifetime.
Full text of article available at link below: huff.to/19qwcF9
