HTB

24th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2022): first reports

3 August 2022. Related: Conference reports, , .

29 July to 2 August 2022, Montreal, Canada

Simon Collins, HIV i-Base

Introduction

This year the IAS conference was held in Montreal and also as an impressive fully hybrid conference online. 

As usual, the conference had a strong programme that covered all aspects of HIV treatment, prevention, activism and policy. Many specialist workshops were also held in the few days before the main conference.

The programme for the meeting is available online:
https://programme.aids2022.org

Several thousand abstracts and posters should also now be available online from the main programme. Many more e-posters are available than printed posters displayed at the meeting.

The programme also includes more than 100 satellite meetings, which are also available to watch online – another first for the meeting. If this is a model for future conferences, this could broaden access to many more people than could ever attend in person.

But attending in person is still vital. Unfortunately, hosting the conference in Canada was not a good choice for the meeting this year. Many delegates had visas denied before the meeting and others had their travel blocked by airlines and customs on the way to the conference.

This is especially disappointing as IAS conferences have previously been held in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.

This year, Canada’s racist and arbitrary visa policies was such a significant problem that it was mentioned throughout the conference, including in a community protest at the opening session (where there was no official involvement of the Canadian government).

IAS now promises to change where they host future meetings. This is not a new problem, but Canada this year has been especially difficult.

The scientific programme however was strong, with important research on many subjects.

  • New treatments and formulations.
  • HIV prevention (including using the antibiotic doxycycline as PEP to reduce STIs),
  • Research in key populations, including women and children.
  • Studies on the global monkeypox crisis.
  • Cure-related research (including new cases of cure and remission).

Early reports from IAS 2022 and related links will be added below as they become available.

Links to other websites are current at date of posting but not maintained.