{"id":54502,"date":"2026-08-17T15:04:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T15:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=54502"},"modified":"2026-08-30T23:06:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T23:06:44","slug":"aids-2026-free-open-access-to-opening-ceremony-and-rapporteur-summaries-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/54502","title":{"rendered":"AIDS 2026: Free access to opening ceremony and rapporteur summaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nSimon Collins, HIV i-Base<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the first time since COVID, the International AIDS Society (IAS) posted the opening ceremony<\/a> and closing sessions as open-access live webcasts and YouTube videos for everyone to be able to watch. [1, 2]<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is especially important for anyone who was unable to register as a delegate or who was in a different time-zone.<\/p>\n

This decision reflects the IAS commitment to democratise science and support community engagement. By including the critical rapporteur summaries<\/a> \u2013 also on YouTube<\/a> – that cover the most important research presented in each conference track – this should also reach many doctors and researchers who were not able to attend.<\/p>\n

The rapporteur summaries enable everyone to see the key results from tracks that they wouldn’t normally be able to follow.<\/p>\n

As outgoing IAS President and conference co-chair Beatriz Grinsztejn made clear when welcoming delegates to her home city of Rio de Janeiro, AIDS 2026 was a highly political event: “We are here because the world needs us to be, to Rethink, Rebuild and Rise.”<\/em><\/p>\n

And in bringing the meeting to Latin America and the Caribbean, where rates of new HIV infections continue to rise, . “Bringing the conference to Brazil is a statement … that also\u00a0invests in the Global South”<\/em> – supporting Brazil’s commitment to a public health response to HIV.<\/p>\n

“We gather in the shadow of decisions made by a few and felt by too many in communities and clinics across the planet”.<\/em><\/p>\n

Other speakers in the opening ceremony<\/a> on how to rebuild following the funding crisis included Winnie Byanyima, head of UNAIDS, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, Alexandre Padilha, Brazil’s Minister of Health, and there was a moving call to action from Alexus d’Marco from the United Caribbean Trans Network (UCTrans).<\/p>\n

Seven tracks in the rapporteur summaries<\/a> (A to F) are:<\/p>\n