XVII International AIDS Conference: From Evidence to Action - AIDS 2008 and the global response to AIDS

The impact of the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008) was reflected in a number of commitments from political and business leaders, who announced initiatives ranging from implementing comprehensive sexual education for young people in Latin America to reducing regulatory barriers and the price of drugs in the host country. The unprecedented media coverage brought attention and public awareness to the epidemic in Latin America

5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention: summary of key research and implications for policy and practice – Operations research

Operations research was added as a fourth scientific track to the pathogenesis conference series at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009) in recognition of the importance of this growing research field and the need for applied research to inform and evaluate the scale up of some key interventions in HIV treatment, care and prevention

XVII International AIDS Conference: From Evidence to Action - Clinical and biomedical prevention science

The question of whether to initiate ART at higher CD4+ cell counts than currently recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) treatment guidelines received much attention at the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008). If studies presented at the conference ultimately lead to a revision of WHO treatment guidance, the estimated number of people who will need ART globally will increase substantially. Task-shifting is emerging as an important strategy for dealing with the acute shortage of health care workers in many high-burden countries, and several studies presented at AIDS 2008 demonstrated the impressive health system efficiencies garnered by using nurses or other health care providers to deliver HIV care and treatment. Other key presentations and discussion at the conference focused on the optimal time to start TB treatment in HIV-infected patients, the growing risk of resistance in high-burden countries, including its impact on future treatment options, and several large cohort trials testing optimal drug regimens in resource-limited settings

5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention: summary of key research and implications for policy and practice – Basic sciences

Basic science studies at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009) provided important new information that has implications not only for treatment, but also for better understanding the complex dynamics of HIV infection, epidemiology, and the impact of biology and genetics on vulnerability to HIV infection, disease progression and the risk of vertical transmission. There was renewed interest in strategies on how to eliminate residual viremia, bolster the immune system and potentially achieve viral eradication given recent evidence that antiretroviral therapy (ART) is effective at minimizing viral reservoirs if administered early in acute infection

5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention: summary of key research and implications for policy and practice – Clinical sciences

Studies in several sub-Saharan African countries demonstrated that the expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) access is not only beneficial for people living with HIV, but also results in significant declines in tuberculosis and malaria incidence and prevalence, bolstering arguments for earlier and increased ART access and contributing to a growing understanding of co-epidemic dynamics. Several studies demonstrated that using standard triple-drug ART in resource-limited settings can reduce vertical transmission by as much as less than 1% if continued throughout breastfeeding

5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention: summary of key research and implications for policy and practice – Biomedical prevention

No major findings were reported at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009) on currently enrolled microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or vaccine trials, although important findings in all three areas of biomedical prevention research are expected within the next few years

XVII International AIDS Conference: From Evidence to Action - Epidemiology

As the epidemic matures, accurate information about where new infections are occurring, and in which populations, is becoming increasingly critical in designing effective, targeted interventions relevant to current epidemiological trends. Although the quality and accuracy of HIV surveillance data and methodology have improved, in many cases the second generation WHO/UNAIDS surveillance system has not been fully implemented at the national level. National surveillance systems in many low and middle-income countries often do not collect disaggregated data on some most at risk populations, which is critical to developing targeted prevention interventions

XVII International AIDS Conference: From Evidence to Action - Basic science

This article focuses on the sessions in which basic science research was presented at the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008). It also provides an analysis of basic science issues which generated significant discussion and debate at the conference and are likely to have implications for future laboratory and clinical research. Data presented at AIDS 2008 confirmed the speed with which HIV establishes latent viral reservoirs following infection and the resulting challenges to viral eradication given how effectively HIV proviral RNA inserts itself into human DNA within these reservoirs. Studies also raised questions about the source of residual viremia and how these might be targeted by novel therapeutic approaches