Thailand conference submission deadlines (theme: access for all).

The XV International AIDS Conference--organized by the International AIDS Society, the Thai Ministry of Public Health, UNAIDS, and four AIDS organizations, will take place July 7-16, 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand. A recent email alert noted several deadlines; we added some others from the conference Website to this list. All the dates below are 2004. (One deadline, for commercial exhibits, is December 31, 2003.)

January 14: Abstract submission by paper forms and disk or CD must be received (note online deadline a week later).

January 21: Online abstract submission deadline (Online is preferred; in case of last-minute submission, note time zones.)

February 2: Skills-building workshop submissions due.

February 2: Registration fee goes up.

February 2: Scholarship applications must be received.

February 2: NGO exhibition request deadline.

April 1: Deadline for guaranteed hotel reservation.

May 26: Late-breaker abstract submission (online only).

Note that there may be no onsite registration.

For complete information see the conference Web site: http://www.ias.se/bangkok/start.aspx

Comment: Protests on Thailand

There have been protests against holding the conference in Thailand, due to what most observers believe is the government-sponsored killings of more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers or users, especially in February, March, and April 2003. For more information see "A Wave of Drug Killings is Linked to Thai Police," New York Times, April 8, 2003. Other major references, including Amnesty International and Time Magazine, can be found by a search (for example, for "Thailand drugs killing" [without the quotes] at http://www.google.com). Also, search Google for "Thai Drug Users Network" (include the quotes in this search).

The major international AIDS conferences take four years to organize, and this one would have been almost impossible to move in the time available.

Comment: Access for All

AIDS Treatment News proposed the theme "access for all" for activists at the Vancouver international conference in 1996 (article is at http://www.aids.org/atn/a-248-10.html). We are glad to see this theme today at a world AIDS conference.

The good news on HIV treatment access is that pilot programs are now starting in many poor countries around the world, potentially offering treatment to many people for the first time. The challenge is finding the funding to go beyond pilot programs. At this time most rich countries are neglecting the global epidemic, in their focus on Iraq and on their relationship with the only superpower.