Posts Tagged ‘xviii international’
On Sunday 18th July, the XVIII International AIDS Conference Opened in Vienna
On Sunday 18th July, the XVIII International AIDS Conference opened in Vienna. The tone of the conference – high expectations and urgent action – was set from the outset when activists declared that ‘Broken promises kill’ and so there must be ‘no retreat’ from the AIDS.
Sex workers with red umbrellas, shirtless housing activists, traditional rabble rousers with pink ACT UP triangles on their shirts, and men and women from every corner of the world assembled for the peaceful but spirited “die in” right outside of the doors of the official opening session of the AIDS conference, which included speakers such as Austrian President Heinz Fischer and AIDS activist Annie Lenox.
Not as large or energizing as previous AIDS conferences, the Vienna 2010 jamboree officially kicked off on Sunday night at the Messe Wien Center.
Former President Bill Clinton addressed the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna Monday. He said while much progress has been made in the fight against the epidemic, much more remains to be done, including on human rights.
Messe Wien Conference Center at the Start of the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) in Vienna
With a special rancor reserved for the United States and president Barack Obama, hundreds of AIDS activists and people living with AIDS marched en masse through the Messe Wien conference center at the start of the XVIII International AIDS conference (AIDS 2010) in Vienna, demanding more money for AIDS funding.
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon emphasised that the ‘MDGS are indivisible’ and the conference co-chairs, Brigitte Schmied and Julio Montaner, reminded that without more resources the international health and HIV communities will be forced to make ‘agonising choices between who can live and who must die’.