The International AIDS Society (IAS) has announced that its largest conference on HIV science will be hosted in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital in 2025.
The IAS Conference on HIV Science is the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications.
In its 13th edition, the conference is set to take place from July 14 to 17, 2025, although pre-meetings will take place on July 13.
“The conference will spotlight challenges and opportunities in some of the world’s most HIV-affected regions while offering insights gained from other areas of the world,” IAS said in a press release on Thursday.
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Kigali was selected as the host city due to Rwanda’s “proven track record as a hub for international meetings and conferences, its world-class convention centre” and also because Africans can travel to the country visa-free.
While at least 16 other African countries are close to achieving the 95-95-95 targets, central, eastern, southern, and western Africa remains home to 65% of all people living with HIV.
According to organisers, the conference matters more that it is hosted in Rwanda, as the country is one of the few that have attained the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets – seven years ahead of target.
Adopted by UN Member States in 2021, the 95–95–95 HIV testing, aims to close gaps in HIV treatment coverage and outcomes by calling for 95% of all people living with HIV to know their HIV status, 95% of all people with diagnosed HIV to receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 95% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy to be virally suppressed by 2030.
“IAS 2025 will serve as a critical reflection point to collectively take stock of how and in what ways the advances in HIV science can be expanded on and accelerated to end AIDS as a public health threat. With only five years left to meet the 2030 targets, it is critical that the global HIV science agenda makes even deeper inroads in support of a more equitable HIV response,” said IAS President-Elect and IAS 2025 International Chair Beatriz Grinsztejn said.
