Post date: Jul 22, 2012 10:57:37 PM
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who was part of the opening panel discussion at the Washington Convention Center, said more needs to be done to fight the HIV-AIDS epidemic.
"I think we must re-double our efforts, re-double our commitment to PEPFAR, to the Global fund, to our domestic-national HIV-AIDS strategy and plan which I believe President Obama has boldly put forward. That is the right thing to do. But it's been a bit quiet in this country and we need to make some noise and we need to put eradicating HIV and AIDS at the front burner of our political agenda both here and abroad," Lee said.
The 2012 International AIDS Conference opens with panel calling for HIV/AIDs to be a political priority and for more investment in research.
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 22, 2012) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) - The XIX International AIDS Conference opened in Washington, D.C. on Sunday (July 22).
Speakers were briefly interrupted by demonstrators demanding sex workers and drug users be included in the conference.
Elly Katabira of Uganda, Dr. Diane Havlir, Bertrand Audoin the International AIDS society head, Michel Sidibé the Executive Director of UNAIDS, and Ambassador Mark Dybul were speakers at the news conference.
The International AIDS Conference is the first to be held in the United States since 1990. It is expected to bring 21,000 delegates from 195 countries for the week-long event that culminates on Friday (July 27).