This week was to be a momentous occasion in the public health of the Bay Area. The International AIDS Conference, the world’s largest gathering of scientists, doctors, activists, and people living with AIDS, returned to San Francisco for the first time in 30 years.
But in the shadow of a new pandemic, the conference will be a virtual matter. More than 20,000 attendees were expected to descend on the Bay Area for the five-day event, which will now take place online only, with one day entirely devoted to COVID-19 news and research.
Bay Area HIV / AIDS leaders who spent two years organizing the event, many of whom had waited decades to bring it back to San Francisco, said they are disappointed but are joining.
“I was deeply disappointed, although I was part of that decision to become virtual and felt that it absolutely had to be taken for health and safety,” said Monica Gandhi, co-chair of the International AIDS Conference and medical director for Ward 86, the HIV outpatient clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.
“On the other hand, I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for people to get involved from all over the world. We had a lot of new registrations when we made it virtual, “he said.” And we’ve decided to make the COVID meeting free and accessible. So, in a way, I see the benefits of this. “
The International AIDS Conference, held every two years, was last held in San Francisco in 1990. Not long after that meeting, the United States banned travel to the country for people with HIV, a policy that was widely criticized by world leaders. The International AIDS Society refused to hold the conference in the United States while the ban was in effect.
The ban was lifted in 2010, and the conference was held in Washington, DC, two years later. Reb. Oakland Democrat Barbara Lee, who introduced the legislation that lifted the ban, then led efforts to bring the meeting back to the Bay Area.
“The Bay Area has been a leader in this fight, and I am very proud of my district for planning such an exciting and important conference,” Lee said in an interview. With that said, doing this pretty much attracts more people. By connecting through technology, I think we are going to touch and learn from a lot of people that we would never have heard of. ”
The meeting begins Monday morning, one of the first sessions is titled “AIDS: The Forgotten Pandemic,” and includes more than 600 virtual sessions. Scientists are expected to provide updates on new drug therapies and prevention tools. Locally, San Francisco leaders will discuss the effects COVID-19 has had on efforts to end HIV transmission in the city and elsewhere.
Speakers for the week will include some global superstars, including Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the United States who led the COVID-19 response and for decades oversaw the national AIDS response, and Tedros Adhanom, director general of the World Health Organization .
Rob Newells, the executive director of the East Bay AIDS Project who participated in organizing events on both sides of the San Francisco Bay Area for the conference, said last week that it was unclear exactly how the virtual meeting would unfold, but he was wanting to participate.
However, he added that the in-person experience of a meeting like the International AIDS Conference cannot be substituted. Newells said spending time with people around the world living with HIV is incredibly powerful. He will be missed this week.
“My first conference was DC in 2012, and one of the previous events was for people living with HIV. And most of them were from the African continent, ”Newells said. “Being in a room with 200 or 300 black people living with HIV was incredible. I don’t know how you recreate that virtually.
Erin Allday is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @erinallday
