AIDS 2014 Melbourne declaration calls for an end to discrimination against HIV patients

A declaration affirming that non-discrimination is fundamental to an evidence-based response to HIV and effective public health programmes was announced by the organisers of the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014), to be held in Melbourne, Australia, from 20-25 July 2014.

“The enforcement of discriminatory and criminalising laws and policies against key affected populations is alarming,” said Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, AIDS 2014 International Chair, President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. “Such practices clearly violate basic human rights and heavily undermine HIV programmes by posing barriers to access to HIV prevention, treatment and care.”

All individuals and organisations involved in the global response to HIV and AIDS are encouraged to sign the declaration at http://www.aids2014.org/declaration.aspx and to share it with their networks.

A welcome video has been launched featuring Tony Abbott, Australia Prime Minister, David Davis, Victorian Minister for Health and Ageing; Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne; Sam Venning, President of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Victoria; and the two Conference Co-Chairs, Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Professor Sharon Lewin.

EH News Bureau