The AIDS 2010 rapporteurs held their Summary Session immediately before the Closing Session on Friday. All week long, rapporteurs have been “scurrying around” collecting and synthesizing presentations, according to session Chair Alan Whiteside, Director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division at the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. The rapporteurs - experienced scientists, clinicians, researchers and advocates from around the world - summarised many of the presentations made during the week, focusing on critical issues addressed, important results presented and key recommendations put forward. The rapporteur reports will be available here and in the Programme-at-a-Glance. More...

By Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, IAS Governing Council Member and President of the International Scientific Advisory Board of ANRS and Richard Jefferys, TAG, Coordinator, Michael Palm Basic Science, Vaccines & Prevention Project

From 16 to 17 July, immediately prior to the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), the International AIDS Society held a workshop addressing the critically important subject of moving beyond antiretroviral therapy and addressing HIV persistence. Towards a Cure: HIV Reservoirs and Strategies to Control Them was co-sponsored by the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS), Bundesministirium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung (BMWFa), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Sidaction and Treatment Action Group (TAG).

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Workshop Chair

As eloquently described by Sharon Lewin in an opening plenary (at 1hr 55 mins), the push to make curing HIV infection a research priority is motivated by several factors. The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has brought the life expectancy of HIV-positive people very close to that of their HIV-negative counterparts, but in most studies a slight difference is still observed. And while HAART has revolutionized HIV care, it remains imperfect, coming with a range of possible complications that can impair quality of life. Furthermore, the cost of delivering life-long HAART to all who need it will eventually consume a daunting proportion of aid budgets. More...

In the lead up to the AIDS 2010 opening on Sunday, many groups and delegates are already at work on a number of issues that will be key topics in the days ahead.

Young people from around the world gathered for the four-day Youth Pre-Conference to network and gain skills in research, advocacy and communications. For more information, visit the blogs from the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS and Y-Peer.

The International AIDS Society is sponsoring two meetings that run through Saturday. Bridging the Divide: Inter-Disciplinary Partnerships for HIV and Health Systems is bringing together participants from multiple disciplines to discuss options for leveraging HIV programming to improve health systems and other priority health conditions, as well as to highlight priority research areas. Scientists at “Towards a Cure": HIV Reservoirs and Strategies to Control Them are examining cutting edge research developments in this important area -- strategies currently being investigated to control HIV reservoirs may hold the key to a cure for HIV disease in the future. The session is chaired by IAS Governing Council Member and Nobel Laureate Francois Barre-Sinoussi and the programme is now available. More...