Bangkok AIDS conference may be largest ever, July 11 to 16.The XV International AIDS Conference Education, networking and the promotion of best practice are essential to enhancing the response to HIV/AIDS. IAS conferences provide opportunities to share experience, and increase the knowledge and expertise of professionals working in HIV/AIDS. in Bangkok, Thailand from July 11-16, 2004, is expecting 15,000 delegates from 160 countries. It will probably be the largest AIDS conference ever, and is the first meeting of its kind in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. . The theme this year is "Access for All"--in science, prevention, treatment, and resources. Anyone can receive free daily email updates during the conference from the well-regarded Kaiser Family Foundation The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. ; to sign up, visit http://www.kff.org/AIDS2004/. Other daily updates will be available, as well as many later reports online, in print, and in community meetings. It is still possible to make arrangements to go (round trip air fare from New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of started at under $1300 as of June 9, and under $1200 from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. ; the best hotel rates are available online, the conference registration is expensive, and 40 countries are exempt from Thai visa requirements but everyone else needs a visa). Unfortunately the Bush Administration cut the number of U.S. scientists who can attend, announcing in March that the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. will be allowed to send only 20 scientists each--compared to 236 U.S. government scientists sent to the last international conference two years ago in Barcelona, Spain. The U.S. reduced its funding for the conference from $3.6 million to less than half a million. Many programs at Bangkok had to be reorganized or cancelled, as the scientists will not be there to present their information. These cuts reflect right-wing attacks; in May 2004, five Republicans in Congress complained that the 2002 Barcelona meeting had 777 presentations that mentioned condoms, "compared to 16 for 'faithfulness' or 'fidelity' and 74 for 'abstinence.'" (For more information see "This Nasty Game Is Scored in Lives" by health writer Laurie Garrett, Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). , May 30, 2004.) The official Web site for the XV International AIDS Conference is http://www.aids2004.org. |
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