Here are the final numbers for AIDS 2010:

• 19,300 participants, including:
      - 16,012 delegates
      - 845 participants from Austria*
      - 1,218 participants from Eastern Europe and Central Asia
      - 848 scholarship recipients
      - 1,276 media delegates
• 770  volunteers
• 197 countries represented
• 10,831 abstracts submitted, 6,238 abstracts accepted
• 248 sessions (59 non-abstract driven sessions, 79 workshops, 110 abstract-driven sessions)
• 19  plenary speeches
• 18 special sessions
• 279 Global Village activities, including 55 sessions, 95 NGO booths and 27 Networking Zones
• 151 exhibits
• 127 satellite meetings
• 10 scientific prizes and awards
• 12,324 Facebook fans, 8,420 #AIDS2010 tweets and 48 blog posts
• 71,043 visits to www.aids2010.org (since Sunday, 18 July)
• 12,725+ Vienna Declaration signatures (as of Friday, 22 July)

* Does not include general public participation in the Global Village, which is difficult to estimate.

©IAS/Marcus Rose/Workers' Photos

By Tears Wenzira and Patience Kunaka 

As the XVIII International AIDS Conference draws to a close in Vienna, 28-year-old Tears Wenzira ties a bright red ribbon in the last head of hair she will braid on her first trip outside of her native Zimbabwe. Back home in the Harare suburb of Chitungwiza, a typical day in the salon brings Tears approximately 25 clients; in the past four days, she estimates that she’s placed a symbolic braid with a red ribbon in more than 300 women’s hair. 

She’s part of a group of more than 2,000 hair dressers in Zimbabwe who work closely with PSI, as part of a programme, co-funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.K. Department for International Development, to prevent HIV transmission by promoting the use of female condoms to their clients. In 2009 alone, PSI sold more than 2 million female condoms, and more than 50 percent of them were distributed through a network of 1,700 hair salons across the country.  Today, Tears sells 100 female condoms per month, rendering a profit of US $4.00 – enough to buy basic groceries like bread and milk for her husband and three children, three nieces and nephews, three siblings and grandmother she cares for.

Tears braiding hair in the Global Village.

Below, Tears and her PSI colleague Patience share their thoughts and impressions on their time at the conference. More...

[Originally posted 14 June 2010]

The people of Vienna and all of Austria are eager to welcome the world to Vienna next month for AIDS 2010. We are proud to build on our city’s rich history as a bridge between East and West and to host the International AIDS Conference at such an important crossroads in our collective efforts to reverse the course of the epidemic. It is our hope that AIDS 2010 will deepen the understanding of how the promotion and protection of human rights is a prerequisite to an effective and evidence-based response to HIV.  

Brigitte Schmied, Local Co-Chair, AIDS 2010, with Sonja Wehsely, Health Counselor, City of Vienna, Agnes Husslein-Arco, Director, Belvedere, and Norbert Kettner, Director, Vienna Tourism at the announcement of the Vienna Cultural Programme.

Local preparations for the conference began two years ago and we have benefitted from a number of important partnerships. The City of Vienna and the Federal Ministry of Health provided key financial support, and Austrian NGOs, including the Austrian AIDS Society (ÖAG) and organizing partners Aids Hilfe Wien and Community Forum Austria, are actively engaged and have helped lay the foundation for success.  ÖAG and AIDS Life also supported scholarships for participants from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), and we are expecting a large local turnout at the Global Village and a warm welcome for the human rights march on 20 July. More...

The people of Vienna and all of Austria are eager to welcome the world to Vienna next month for AIDS 2010. We are proud to build on our city’s rich history as a bridge between East and West and to host the International AIDS Conference at such an important crossroads in our collective efforts to reverse the course of the epidemic. It is our hope that AIDS 2010 will deepen the understanding of how the promotion and protection of human rights is a prerequisite to an effective and evidence-based response to HIV.  

Brigitte Schmied, Local Co-Chair, AIDS 2010, with Sonja Wehsely, Health Counselor, City of Vienna, Agnes Husslein-Arco, Director, Belvedere, and Norbert Kettner, Director, Vienna Tourism at the announcement of the Vienna Cultural Programme.

Local preparations for the conference began two years ago and we have benefitted from a number of important partnerships. The City of Vienna and the Federal Ministry of Health provided key financial support, and Austrian NGOs, including the Austrian AIDS Society (ÖAG) and organizing partners Aids Hilfe Wien and Community Forum Austria, are actively engaged and have helped lay the foundation for success.  ÖAG and AIDS Life also supported scholarships for participants from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), and we are expecting a large local turnout at the Global Village and a warm welcome for the human rights march on 20 July. More...