Final Program [International Conference on AIDS (14th: 2002: Barcelona, Spain)]

SExhibitions
Commercial and Non-Commercial Exhibition
The Commercial and Non-Commercial Exhibition features over
ioo booths with worldwide representation. Spending each day
talking to the exhibitors, sharing information and discussing
their research or role in the HIV/AIDS field should be both
rewarding and informative for delegates.
There is also a wide range of national and international
organizations and institutions, offering information on
equipment for clinics and laboratories, pharmaceuticals,
diagnostics, technology development, sterilization/infection
control, barrier contraception, educational materials, journals,
books and support services.
You will find an Exhibition Catalog in your delegate bag, giving
the complete listing of exhibitors with details to help you
locate each organization. Do not forget to take a moment to
visit the booth for the XV International AIDS Conference,
scheduled to take place in Bangkok, Thailand, in July 2004.
International NGO Village
The NGO Village area includes 115 exhibitors highlighting the
work of these non-governmental, non-profit organizations in
different areas:
* Prevention of sexual transmission
* Treatment and care
* Specific populations
* Harm reduction programs
Within these broad fields, visitors to the NGO Village will find
representatives of more focused programs and will be able to share
experiences about and obtain information on an extensive scope of
HIV/AIDS work, at grass-roots level, from around the world.
Poble Espanyol (Spanish NGO Village)
Right at the center of the international NGO exhibition you will
find the Poble Espanyol- a space populated by a rotating
representation of Spanish NGOs, covering the same broad
areas as in the International Village. This will be a perfect
opportunity for delegates to come face to face with the groups
who are working to fight the epidemic in Spain, to learn from
and to share experiences with them.
Conference Publications
You have in your hand the Final Program of the XIV
International AIDS Conference. As well as useful practical
information, it lists all the oral sessions, poster presentations
and poster exhibitions. An index of presenting authors is given
at the back of the book.
When you picked up your delegate bag, you also received the
Abstract Books. These are published both in electronic form
(CD-ROM) and in print. The printed version consists of 2
volumes, the first for Monday and Tuesday and the second for
Wednesday and Thursday. These volumes comprise abstracts
presented orally in abstract-driven sessions, in oral poster
presentation sessions and in the poster exhibition.
The following key should help you locate sessions and
abstracts in the Final Program:
P1 Plenaries
Se Special Events
SI Senior Lectures
Or Oral Abstracts
Bs Bridging Sessions
Sy Symposia

Db
Sb
Pp
Pe

Debates
Skills Building
Poster Presentations
Poster Exhibitions

Session Codes
Sessions are given a code indicating the day of presentation,
the type of session and the track symbol followed by the order
of presentation.
Examples
Oral Sessions
MoPlol Monday Plenary
MoOrAlooo Monday, Oral Abstract Session, Track A,
presentation number 1ooo
Poster Presentations
MoPpA200ooo Monday, Poster Presentations, Track A,
presentation number 2000
Poster Exhibitions
MoPeA300ooo Monday, Poster Exhibition, Track A, poster
number 3000
Sessions marked and (Dindicate simultaneous
interpretation is provided into French and Spanish.
Xiulet the Conference Newsletter
Each delegate will have received a copy of the third issue of
the Conference Newsletter, Xiulet, in the Conference bag. This
Conference edition includes information on a large and
important group of people who become indispensable to all
during the Conference week - our Volunteers, always around,
highly visible, and ready to assist all.
You will also find an in-depth report of the state of the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in Spain as well as the impact that this Conference is
expected to have on Spain and its communities.
Spanish and French versions of Xiulet will be available in
different areas of the Conference, for example, at the
information counters, in the Poble Espanyol, the PWA Lounge
and the Scholarships Lounge.
SScoring and Selection of Abstracts
Organizing the submitted abstracts into a Conference Program
is a challenge of balancing excellence and relevance. A total of
10,430 abstracts were received. Each abstract was sent to
three reviewers selected by computer from a panel of 1,500oo
reviewers. The panel of reviewers was prepared using Medline
searches, past reviewer lists and suggestions from Conference
Committee members. In this database of reviewers, each
reviewer is listed with abstract categories that represent
his/her expertise. Reviewers were sent about 20-30 abstracts
to review; they received the abstracts without the names of the
authors, thereby making the review a blinded process.
When the reviewers' notes were received, they were collated and
the average score for each abstract calculated. The 504 highest
scoring abstracts have been organized into the various oral track
sessions. The next group of 168 high scoring abstracts have
been organized into groups of six oral poster presentations per
track per day. Of the remaining abstracts, 5,240 have been
organized into the poster exhibitions, The Barcelona Conference
will have about 1,310 posters exhibited each day, and 2,807 will
be included in the CD-ROM format of the Abstract Book.
Unfortunately 1,711 abstracts had to be rejected.
The rejection rate of 17.1% is high and those who had their
abstracts rejected should take heart in the fact that many good
abstracts had to be rejected due to the constraints of limited
space in the Conference Program.
XIV International AIDS Conference BARCELONA - JULY 7-12

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