Media [International Conference on AIDS (11th: 1996: Vancouver, Canada)]

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XI International
Conference
on AIDS
Vancouver
July 7-12, 1996
"As Organisers of the Xl International Conference on AIDS, we recognized very early on that the Vancouver
Conference would not succeed without the active and on-going contributions of the community and its
representatives.We have listened and we have tried to be as inclusive as possible,";' said Dr. Schechter.
Robson Square in downtown Vancouver will be the focus of community activity throughout the five-day Conference. In
addition to the popular Public Forum sessions, One World Screen Festival and multi-faceted Cultural Society program
at Robson Square, office space has been designated at the site to accommodate the communication and strategic
planning needs of several community-based organisations.
Besides contributing to the Program content of the Conference, the influence of community groups and their representatives has been marked in other vital respects.An elaborate and extensive AIDS education program was instituted last
year to sensitise Canada Customs and Immigration officials to the special needs of many arriving delegates in a bid to
avoid any unnecessary delays at Canadian border points for persons with HIV/AIDS.
Conference Organisers also took the unprecedented step of securing medical health insurance for all delegates
throughout the duration of the Conference.As a result, no delegate need worry about the cost of unforeseen health
and medical treatment during the Conference."We have attempted to deal with every contingency that might be faced
by delegates representing the community. Let us not forget it is those people that we call 'community' who find themselves confronting this pandemic straight in the face," said Community Liaison Co-ordinator Andrew Johnson, one of
the first appointments to the Conference Secretariat in 1994.
Assisting the Organising Committee in meeting the needs of the community has been the 12-member international
Community Liaison Committee.The Committee is composed of representatives from international bodies including
GNP+ and ICASO as well as distinguished community leaders and persons living with HIV/AIDS from nine nations of
the developed and developing world.
The influence of the community will be felt in other ways at the XI International Conference on AIDS. Representatives
have been influential in developing the program of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Their contributions can be
seen in special activities such as conceiving and managing the 1,000-square foot Joe Average Quilt, which will be raised
at the Opening Ceremony, and in their organisation of the inter-faith memorial service on July 10.
Much attention of the HIV/AIDS community in Vancouver will be directed at those parts of the Conference Program
dealing with Track D - Social Science: Research, Policy and Action which are designed to bring together activists, persons
living with HIV/AIDS, and researchers with common interests in the social and cultural impact of HIV/AIDS. More than
1,600 research abstracts have been submitted to this field alone.
Additionally, the Organising Committee has introduced Pathways which will incorporate medical-scientific, epidemiological and social science sessions around three themes: Development and HIV; Women and HIV and Living with HIV.
"The contributions of the HIV/AIDS community in Canada and from around the world to the XI International
Conference on AIDS reinforce our belief that it is only through a sustained and united effort that progress will be made
against the pandemic.This, we hope, will be an enduring legacy of the Vancouver Conference;" said Dr. Schechter.
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