Thousand Delegates to Attend 21st International AIDS Conference in SA

Some 10 thousand delegates of 180 countries are expected to attend the 21st International Conference on AIDS in the city of Durban, according to the organizers quoted in Pretoria by the media This is the second time that coast city will host the important meeting, after the one held there 16 years ago. Vicepresident Cyril Ramaphosa, who is the president of the AIDS National Council, will head the local delegation to the conference.

The venue will allow the African nation to expose and share with the international community the advances in the struggle against the scourge, particularly on how it enacted the largest anti-retroviral program in the world.

It is estimated that 6.8 million persons live with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in South Africa, of which 3.4 million receive the anti-retrovirals. Other statistics show that about two thousand women between 15 and 24 years of age get infected with the HIV every week in this country.

Authorized sources warn this is the greatest challenge of the government in the fight against the epidemic. KwaZulu-Natal is the province with the highest rate of contagion (492 every week), followed by Gauteng with 333.

The 21st International Conference will take place from July 18-22, gathering scientists, politicians, leaders and persons living with HIV, who will discuss together the strategies in order to achieve a generation free of AIDS by 2030.