ID :
203669
Fri, 08/26/2011 - 11:55
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/203669
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Asia-Pacific AIDS congress opens in Busan
BUSAN, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- The International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) kicked off its congress in South Korea's southern port city of Busan Friday with some 4,000 people from 70 countries taking part in the event.
The 10th AIDS congress will run until Tuesday under the theme of "Diverse Voices, United Action," local organizers of the biennial meeting said. The ICAAP is the world's second-largest conference on the disease discovered 30 years ago. This year's event marks the largest international conference held on AIDS in South Korea.
"I hope this upcoming congress will become an opportunity to resolve our society's underlying discrimination and bias toward AIDS," Cho Myung-hwan, head of the local organizing committee, said earlier.
The biotechnology professor from Seoul's Konkuk University also said AIDS, since its discovery 30 years ago, has now become a type of chronic disease that does not prevent "a healthy, long-lasting life if treated properly."
Co-hosted by UNAIDS and the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), the ICAAP seeks to promote regional collaboration in fighting the disease by sharing the ideas of people infected and affected by AIDS, and also provide a chance for people and governments of the region to exchange their latest scientific and policy developments.
As of the end of 2010, there were 34 million people in the world living with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, according to UNAIDS. About 7,000 of them currently live in South Korea.
Participants at the Busan meeting will also include Epeli Nailatikau, president of Fiji; Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS; and various officials from other international organizations, including the World Bank and the United States' President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief or PEPFAR.
The 10th AIDS congress will run until Tuesday under the theme of "Diverse Voices, United Action," local organizers of the biennial meeting said. The ICAAP is the world's second-largest conference on the disease discovered 30 years ago. This year's event marks the largest international conference held on AIDS in South Korea.
"I hope this upcoming congress will become an opportunity to resolve our society's underlying discrimination and bias toward AIDS," Cho Myung-hwan, head of the local organizing committee, said earlier.
The biotechnology professor from Seoul's Konkuk University also said AIDS, since its discovery 30 years ago, has now become a type of chronic disease that does not prevent "a healthy, long-lasting life if treated properly."
Co-hosted by UNAIDS and the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), the ICAAP seeks to promote regional collaboration in fighting the disease by sharing the ideas of people infected and affected by AIDS, and also provide a chance for people and governments of the region to exchange their latest scientific and policy developments.
As of the end of 2010, there were 34 million people in the world living with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, according to UNAIDS. About 7,000 of them currently live in South Korea.
Participants at the Busan meeting will also include Epeli Nailatikau, president of Fiji; Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS; and various officials from other international organizations, including the World Bank and the United States' President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief or PEPFAR.
