Headquarters Geneva, Switzerland Website www.iasociety.org | Number of employees 16,000+ | |
 | ||
Founded 1988; 29 years ago (1988)
Stockholm, Sweden Key people Chris Beyrer (President) | ||
The International AIDS Society (IAS) is an association of HIV professionals, with 16,000 members from 196 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. IAS members include researchers from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the frontlines of the epidemic, as well as policy and programme planners.
Contents
- History
- International AIDS Conference
- List of International Aids Conferences
- IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis Treatment and Prevention
- Other activities
- References
The IAS is the custodian of the biennial International AIDS Conference and the lead organizer of the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention.
The current IAS President is Chris Beyrer. Past presidents have included Helene D. Gayle, Joep Lange, Peter Piot and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi. The IAS's headquarters are located in Geneva.
History
The IAS is a non-profit organization founded in 1988, with a mandate to organize the International AIDS Conference. Initially the IAS headquarters were based in Stockholm and Lars-Olof Kallings was the Secretary General from 1988 until 2003.
In 2004, the IAS restructured its organization, expanded the number of professional staff and moved the headquarters to Geneva. The move was intended to strengthen organizational links with other health NGOs and (United Nations) multilateral agencies.
International AIDS Conference
The International AIDS Conference (abbreviated AIDS 2012, AIDS 2014 and so on) is the world's most attended conference on HIV and AIDS. These conferences started in 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. They were held annually until 1994 when they became biennial. The most recent conference was in Durban, South Africa, in July 2016.
The twenty-second conference is scheduled for Amsterdam in July 2018
The International AIDS Conference is the largest regular conference, and it provides a forum for the interaction of science, community, leadership, and the strengthening of an evidence-based policy and programmatic responses to the epidemic. The conferences also allow an opportunity to intensify political and financial commitments to AIDS, and include the largest international conference scholarship program in HIV/AIDS.
Joep Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society was killed en route to the 20th Conference in Melbourne while on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down over Ukraine.
List of International Aids Conferences
Below is the list of International Aids Conferences and their venue:
IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention
The IAS also organizes the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention. This conference occurs biennially and focuses on the biomedical aspects of HIV. It aims to bring together participants from around the world by providing an environment for researchers and clinicians to address current issues in HIV research, prevention and treatment. The conference was held in Buenos Aires in 2001, Paris in 2003, Rio de Janeiro in 2005, Sydney in 2007, Cape Town in 2009, Rome in 2011, Kuala Lumpur in 2013, and Vancouver in 2015.
Other activities
The IAS works with other regional HIV/AIDS societies and networks to strengthen the capacity of HIV professionals to respond to the epidemic at the regional level. The society runs the Industry Liaison Forum, whose mission is to remove barriers to research investment by the pharmaceutical industry in resource-limited settings. The IAS also provides professional development and training opportunities for HIV professionals at both international and regional AIDS conferences through its education programme.