International AIDS society

LOGO OF INTERNATIONAL AIDS SOCIETY

HISTORY
The International AIDS Society (IAS) leads collective action on every front of the global HIV response through its membership base, scientific authority and convening power.
Founded in 1988, located in Geneva, Switzerland. The IAS is the world’s largest association of HIV professionals, with members in more than 170 countries.
Working with its members, the IAS advocates and drives urgent action to reduce the impact of HIV.
The IAS is also the steward of the world’s most prestigious HIV conferences: the International AIDS Conference, the IAS Conference on HIV Science, and the HIV Research for Prevention Conference.

INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE
The International AIDS Conference is the premier global platform to advance the HIV response.
As the world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS, it sits uniquely at the intersection of science, advocacy and human rights, bringing together scientists, policy makers, healthcare professionals, people living with HIV, funders, media and community.
Since its start in 1985, the conference continues to serve as an opportunity to strengthen policies and programmes that ensure an evidence-based response to HIV and related epidemics.
The 23rd International AIDS Conference – known as AIDS 2020 – will be hosted in San Francisco and Oakland, US, on 6-10 July 2020 with the theme, Resilience.
AIDS 2020 will gather more than 20,000 participants from more than 170 countries.

IAS CONFERENCE ON HIV SCIENCE
The IAS Conference on HIV Science is the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications.
This biennial conference presents the critical advances in basic, clinical and operational HIV research that move science into policy and practice.
Through its open and inclusive programme, the meeting sets the gold standard of HIV science, featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research.
The 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science – known as IAS 2021 – will be hosted in Berlin, Germany, on 18 - 21 July 2021. IAS 2019 will gather more than 5,000 participants from more than 140 countries.

HIV RESEARCH FOR PREVENTION CONFERENCE
HIV Research for Prevention is the only global scientific conference focused exclusively on the challenging and fast-growing field of HIV prevention research.
HIVR4P fosters interdisciplinary knowledge–exchange on HIV vaccines, microbicides, PrEP, treatment as prevention and biomedical interventions as well as their related social and behavioural implications.
The 4th HIV Research for Prevention Conference – known as HIVR4P 2020 – will be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11–15 October 2020.

GOALS
Their motto is – “Turning the Tide Together”.
Promotion of global solidarity between people working in HIV and AIDS
International and interdisciplinary approach (including ethical, legal, economic and political aspects of HIV/AIDS in addition to biomedical issues)
Fighting discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS and those most vulnerable to infection.
Promotion of research and more effective application of new knowledge toHIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

STRUCTURE OF THE IAS GOVERNING COUNCIL
Every two years, IAS members from each of five geographic regions are asked to nominate members to serve a term of four years, respectively, on the IAS Governing Council.
The next President and Treasurer are first elected amongst and by the members of the Governing Council.
Elections are there after held electronically amongst members within each region to fill the vacant seats on the council.
The five regions are USA and Canada, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific Islands.
The IAS has been fortunate in attracting researchers and clinicians who are world leaders in HIV research, treatment and prevention to serve on our Governing Council.

CIPHER GRANT PROGRAMME
The CIPHER Grant Programme directly supports the development of early-stage investigators, awarding up to US$150,000 for up to two years to address research gaps in paediatric and adolescent HIV in resource-limited settings.
This is a unique “stepping up” opportunity, designed to give investigators the experience they need to compete for larger funding.
The grants are resulting in personal and career development, capacity building on the ground, and research that informs critical management and care and leads to policy change.
CIPHER has partnered with the World Health Organization to develop global research agendas on HIV testing, treatment and service delivery for paediatric and adolescent populations.
The CIPHER Grant Programme is made possible with the generous support of Founding Sponsor ViiV Healthcare and Janssen. Its content is guided by experts in paediatric and adolescent HIV convened by the IAS.

ACHIEVEMENTS
This “second chapter” in the search for a cure outlines the past achievements and future priorities in basic, translational, clinical, and social sciences research, along with a new focus on aspects of HIV cure research that have achieved greater significance since 2012, including:
the benefits of early treatment with antiretroviral therapy and the potential of post treatment control
the primacy of immunology in HIV cure research, and a call for increased collaboration with immunologists from other fields, such as cancer research
the search for tools that better measure HIV viral reservoirs within the body
the social science and ethical aspects of cure research
cure research in, and the need to develop approaches that will be appropriate for, resource-limited settings.