Vancouver Conference: Make Travel Plans Now. Focus, Program, and Satellite Meetings

The program of the XI International Conference on AIDS (Vancouver, July 7-12, 1996) has been built around the abstracts submitted. Since the abstract deadline was February 1, and it took time to review and categorize the submissions, the major scientific issues which the conference will address are only now coming into view. Some of the areas which will receive most attention are:

* Use of combination therapies with protease inhibitors;

* Immunomodulators and malignancies;

* Ethics and methodology of clinical trials;

* Complementary therapies;

* Management of HIV infection in children;

* Resistance to antiretroviral drugs;

* The HIV life cycle;

* Viral pathogenesis;

* New research in preventive vaccines;

* Natural history and determinants of long-term non-progression;

* Prevention of mother-to-child transmission;

* Sexually transmitted disease prevention to reduce HIV infection;

* Needle-exchange programs;

* Female-controlled methods to prevent HIV transmission;

* HIV and human rights;

* Community mobilization;

* Papers which seek to draw together activists, people living with HIV, and researchers around common interests.

A record number of abstracts -- 5,626 -- were submitted to this conference; this is more than for any other conference except Berlin, which allowed individuals to be presenting author for more than one abstract. About 90% of the Vancouver abstracts were accepted.

Plenary Program

The plenary program -- the talks and debates addressed to everyone at the conference -- is now as follows:

* Monday July 8: Antiviral Therapy and Viral Load; HIV Genetic Diversity; The Epidemic of HIV among Young Gay Men; and a debate on whether the prohibition of addictive drugs can make a significant contribution to HIV prevention and control.

* Tuesday July 9: Empowerment, Community Mobilization, and Social Change in the Face of AIDS; Perinatal Transmission; Female-Controlled Methods; and a debate on vaccines, whether more fundamental science is needed before large phase III vaccine trials.

* Wednesday July 10: Molecular Biology and Drug Development; Continuum of Care in Resource Poor Settings; HIV and Development; and a debate, topic not yet set.

* Thursday July 11: Positive Developments in Interventions; The Impact of HIV on Families and Children; HIV Viral Dynamics; and a debate on the relative contribution of viral factors vs. host factors in pathogenesis.

Travel, Media Arrangements

It is important to make travel reservations now, due to limited space in hotels and in flights into Vancouver.

Media persons must be accredited to cover the conference, and are strongly urged to take care of that now, due to limited hotels in Vancouver.

Contact Greg Hamara (see Contact Information, below).

Skills Building Meetings, July 8-11 Afternoons

"Managers, trainers, programmers, volunteers, and clinicians from developing countries are encouraged to participate with professional facilitators and experienced community based practitioners. The workshops will examine analytical tools, low cost technology and the experience of participants to find new personal and group resources for dealing with challenges of community based organizations."

Topics include assessing community needs, interactive training techniques, managing nutrition in the face of poverty, CD4 testing alternatives, writing a funding proposal, and many others.

For more information, contact Peter Gillies, Skills Building Coordinator, fax 604/668-3242, email pgillies@hivnet.ubc.ca, or wag@web.ca.

Community Forum 96, July 5-6

"Community Forum 96 is an international gathering of persons living with HIV/AIDS and community organization workers that will precede the XI International Conference on AIDS. Over a period of two days, this working meeting will bring together 500 persons -- 100 from each of the five regions of the world..."

For more information, contact the Community Liaison Department of the Conference Secretariat; see contact information below.

Satellite Meetings

Organizations and companies have scheduled the following satellite programs. Because of limited space, we have only listed the date, the sponsoring organization, and the title of the meeting, to help people plan their schedule and make travel arrangements.

Friday July 5

* The AIDS Control and Prevention (AIDSCAP) Project of Family Health International and the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights of the Harvard School of Public Health. Status & Trends of the Global HIV/AIDS Pandemic (continues July 6).

* Global AIDS Information Network. 1996 Biennial Meeting.

* National Institute of Mental Health. Role of Families in Preventing and Adapting to HIV/AIDS (continues July 6 and 7).

Saturday July 6

* Canadian Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Nursing: Sustaining the Circle of Life.

* AIDSCAP/Family Health International. Men, Women and AIDS: A Dialog.

* American Medical Association. AIDS Media Briefing.

* International Christian AIDS Network. A Faith Response to HIV/AIDS (continues July 7).

* Health Canada, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. National Institutes of Health, The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, and Canadian Public Health Association. HIV Prevention Works / La Prevention du VIH, ca marche / La Prevencion del VIH da resultados.

* European Commission. The European Communities' HIV/AIDS Program for Developing Countries Directorate-General for Development.

* Janssen-Cilag, Opportunistic Fungal Infections in HIV/AIDS: Emerging Challenges and a New Solution.

Sunday July 7 - Friday July 12

Many additional satellite meetings could not be listed here due to lack of space; we will publish them in our next issue. We included the pre-conference meetings now because they are most likely to affect travel plans. The later satellite meetings occur on the days of the conference itself.

Contact Information

Conference Secretariat, XI International Conference on AIDS, 11th floor, 1090 West Pender, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6E 2N7; phone 800/780-AIDS, or 604/668-3225; fax 604/668-3242;

email aids96@hivnet.ubc.ca;