AIDS conference opens at key turning point

(July 23, 2012) Researchers, doctors and patients attending the world's largest AIDS conference are urging the world's governments not to cut back on the fight against the epidemic when it is at a turning point. There is no cure or vaccine yet, but scientists say they have the tools to finally stem the spread of this intractable virus, largely by using treatment not just to save patients but to make them less infectious, too. ``Future generations are counting on our courage to think big, be bold and seize the opportunity before us,'' said Dr. Diane Havlir of the University of California, San Francisco, a co-chair of the International AIDS Conference. ``We must resolve together never to go backwards,'' Dr. Elly Katabira, president of the International AIDS Society, told the conference's opening session late Sunday. More than 20,000 scientists, people living with HIV and policy-makers are meeting this week at the 19th International AIDS conference July 22 to 27 in Washington DC, United States. The world spent $16.8 billion fighting AIDS in poor countries, the hardest-hit, last year. But that's still $7 billion a year shy of the amount needed to nearly double the 8 million people getting life-saving drugs by the world's goal of 2015. “This gap is killing people,'' UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe told the conference. ``My friends, the end of AIDS is not free. It is not too expensive. It is priceless.''