High Level Speakers Announced for XIX International AIDS

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, U.S. Senators John Kerry and Lindsey Graham, U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and The Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs confirmed to address the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, D.C.

Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH to deliver Plenary speech Monday 24 July.

Some 25,000 Scientists, People Living with HIV, and other stakeholders expected to attend AIDS 2012

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Organizers of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) announced today that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush, South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, U.S. Senators John Kerry and Lindsey Graham, U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and The Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs will be among the high-level speakers who will join thousands of the world's top AIDS researchers, community leaders, and other stakeholders in Washington, D.C. this July. An estimated 25,000 attendees are expected to attend AIDS 2012, which will take place from 22 to 27 July under the theme Turning the Tide Together.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, (Myanmar/Burma) and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will both address the conference via video. Actress Sharon Stone will also present the inaugural amfAR/International AIDS Society Elizabeth Taylor Award at the Opening Session.

President Bill Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, philanthropist Bill Gates, humanitarian Sir Elton John, founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and actress Whoopi Goldberg were announced in June as high-level speakers at AIDS 2012.

Former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush will speak at a Special Session, Leadership in the AIDS Response for Women, on Thursday, 26 July. South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will address two Special Sessions, How Do We Get There? Country Planning for Maximum Impact on Monday, 23 July, and China, India, South Africa, Brazil: How Will They Use Their Leadership to Advance the AIDS Response? on Tuesday, 24 July.

U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and the newly elected World Bank President Jim Yong Kim will each address the Opening Session on Sunday, 22 July. Kim and U.S Senator John Kerry and U.S. Senator Graham will address a Symposia Session entitled Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency in the AIDS Response on Monday, 23 July. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi will address the Closing Session on Friday, 27 July and development economist Jeffrey Sachs will participate in the Special Session, China, India, South Africa, Brazil: How Will They Use Their Leadership to Advance the AIDS Response? on Tuesday, 24 July.

"We are delighted to welcome the world's leading AIDS scientists and activists to AIDS 2012, and to have secured these high-level keynote speakers at this crucial time in the global response to HIV," said Elly Katabira, International Chair of AIDS 2012 and President of the International AIDS Society (IAS).

In the last few years various research trials, including HPTN 052, CAPRISA 004, TDF2, Partners PrEP, and iPrEx have demonstrated with solid evidence the efficacy of HIV treatment as prevention, while other studies are currently investigating the possibility of a cure for HIV.

"The past few years have been a scientific watershed in the life of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, one that has given us the tools to potentially make major inroads into the epidemic on an unprecedented scale," concluded Katabira.

The theme of AIDS 2012, Turning the Tide Together, has been selected to emphasize how a global and decisive commitment is crucial to change the course of the epidemic now that science is presenting promising results in HIV treatment and biomedical prevention. This biennial event is the world's largest meeting on AIDS, where leading scientists report on the latest AIDS research, and together with implementers, community leaders and policymakers, help to identify next steps in the global response to AIDS.

"AIDS 2012 represents a unique occasion to mobilize policy makers, governments, NGOs, scientists, people living with HIV and civil society to join forces," said Dr. Diane Havlir, U.S. Co-Chair of AIDS 2012 and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

"The economic times are tough but the science is telling us that we'd be irresponsible to miss this historic moment. And many of those scientists who have been at the forefront of new research around treatment as prevention and HIV reservoirs will be present at the conference. Now, more than ever we need to seize the moment, attract funding to invest in AIDS research and at the same time promote programmes based on effectiveness and efficiency that optimize the use of resources," concluded Havlir.

The full AIDS 2012 programme and a Programme Highlights document is now available through the conference website www.aids2012.org and significant parts of the programme – including webcasts of key sessions, speeches, slide presentations, abstracts, e-posters, session-specific and daily rapporteur reports, as well as workshop handouts and audio recordings, will also be online during the conference.

Additional high-level speakers confirmed at AIDS 2012 (In alphabetical order)

Kesetebirhan Admasu, Minister of State for Health, Ethiopia

Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, Canada

Agnes Binagwaho, Minister of Health, Rwanda

Denis Broun, Executive Director, UNITAID

Grant Colfax, Director, White House Office of National AIDS Policy

Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health

David Davis, Victorian Minister of Health, Australia

Tom Duane, New York State Senator

Bill Frist, Former U.S. Senator

Paul De Lay, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS

Mark Dybul, Former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

Thomas R. Frieden, Director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator

Mireille Guigaz, AIDS Ambassador, France

Gabriel Jaramillo, General Manager, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Michel Kazatchkine, Commissioner, Global Commission on Drug Policy

Sophia Martelly, First Lady of Haiti

Crown Princess of Norway, Her Royal Highness Mette-Marit

Anders Nordström, AIDS Ambassador, Sweden

Hanno Pevkur, Minister of Social Affairs, Estonia

Penehupifo Pohamba, First Lady of Namibia

Tanya Plibersek, Minister of Health, Australia

Murray Proctor, AIDS Ambassador, Australia

J.V.R. Prasada Rao, UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific

Mphu Ramatlapeng, Vice Chair of the Board, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Former Minister of Health, Lesotho

Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Agriculture, former Minister of Health, Guyana

Sandra Elisabeth Roelofs, First Lady of Georgia

Rajiv Shah, Administrator, USAID

Sarah Wescot-Williams, Prime Minister, Sint Maarten

Marijke Wijnroks, AIDS Ambassador, The Netherlands

Benedict Xaba, Minister of Health, Swaziland

ENDS

Online Media pre-registration closes on 17 July, at 23.59 CET.

After 17 July, media registration and accreditation will only be provided on-site at the Media Desk in the Registration Area in the WCC, from Saturday, 21 July at 13:00. If you intend to register for the conference after 17 July, please send an email to either media@aids2012.org (if you are an international media) or us_media@aids2012.org (if you are an US media) with your details to expedite your registration onsite.

Media centre opening hours: Media Centre operations begin on Saturday, 21 July at 13:00. The Media Centre will be staffed between 08:00 and 20:00 each day, and will remain accessible 24 hours per day until 24:00 on Friday, 27 July.

Conference Organization

AIDS 2012 is convened by the International AIDS Society and the conference's international partners: the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+); the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO); the International Community of Women with HIV/AIDS (ICW) and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS): the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC); Sidaction.

The U.S.-based Black AIDS Institute; the District of Columbia Department of Health (DOH); the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA); the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) at the White House; and the U.S. Positive Women's Network (USPWN) are serving as local partners.

AIDS 2012: Join the conversation

Get the latest conference updates and share your thoughts and ideas through the Conference Facebook and Twitter. We are tweeting – @aids2012 – and hope many of you will tweet along with us, using #AIDS2012 to keep the conversation going. Become a fan of AIDS 2012 on Facebook and stay in touch with the latest conference updates and developments. Please visit www.facebook.com/aids2012 to become a fan. If your group or organization is participating in AIDS 2012, we welcome posts of photos and videos of your work on this page. Tell us why you are coming to Washington and what you hope to gain from AIDS 2012.

About the IAS

The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with over 16,000 members from more than 196 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. Our members include researchers from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the frontlines of the epidemic, as well as policy and programme planners. The IAS is the custodian of the biennial International AIDS Conference and lead organizer of the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 30 June– 3 July 2013.

www.iasociety.org | www.ias2013.org

For interview requests with Elly Katabira and more information about this release:

Francesca Da Ros (Geneva, Switzerland)

AIDS 2012 Communications and Media Officer

Email: Francesca.Daros@iasociety.org

Tel: +41 22 710 0822

US Mob (July 16-28): +1 202 997 6917

Michael Kessler

AIDS 2012 International Media Coordinator

Email: michael.kessler@aids2012.org

Mob: +1 (202) 997 5851

Skype: mickgpi