The fifth Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference took place in Moscow, Russian Federation, from 23 to 25 March and concluded by calling on governments, international organizations, the business community and religious and civil society organizations to Fast-Track the AIDS response in the region.
In his closing remarks, UNAIDS Deputy Director Luiz Loures made a strong call for the provision of evidence-informed HIV prevention and treatment services to close the gap in access to coverage for key populations.
The conference outcome statement, which was debated by the participants and the co-chairs of the three conference tracks—medicine and science, international cooperation and civil society—includes specific references to the need for evidence-informed HIV prevention programmes, including harm reduction, increased domestic funding and further support for civil society organizations. It also calls upon the governments of eastern Europe and central Asia to reaffirm their commitment to the target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, which will take place from 8 to 10 June in New York, United States of America.
Three panel discussions were organized during which speakers from Belarus, Brazil, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, as well as Ndaba and Kweku Mandela, engaged in a public discussion on key HIV issues, including HIV and sport, HIV and the mass media and the challenges of HIV public information campaigns today.
The conference brought together 2500 participants from 79 countries and featured more than 350 plenary and parallel presentations. The conference outcome statement included the proposal of the Government Russian Federation for the sixth Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference to be held in Moscow in 2018.
