15-Year Anniversary: Adherence 2020 Goes Virtual

For the first time in its 15-year history, the Adherence 2020 Virtual conference was held online to accommodate the ongoing public health restrictions related to COVID-19. The global COVID-19 pandemic was one of the key topics at the conference, notably in relation to continuous access to and utilization of HIV services.

In a keynote address delivered to Adherence 2020 Virtual conference delegates, the Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Dr. Shannon Hader, called upon global health leaders to implement a universal test-and-connect approach to reach the dual goals of curbing new HIV transmissions and stopping AIDS-related deaths by 2030.

“It takes a lot of leadership commitment to make it happen,” said Dr. Hader in an address that reviewed new research about how to encourage communities to adopt the universal test-and-connect approach. Dr. Hader added that the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the concept of community-wide HIV testing more widely understood and accepted among the general public.

Dr. Hader’s remarks followed an introduction by Dr. José M. Zuniga, President/CEO of IAPAC, which hosted the Adherence 2020 Virtual conference on November 2-3, 2020.

Read more about the Adherence 2020 Virtual conference on IAPAC's blog and watch the presentations on IAPAC's Adherence 2020 Virtual YouTube playlist.

Adherence 2020 Virtual was made possible through grant support and sponsorships from Gilead Sciences, Janssen Therapeutics, Merck & Co., and ViiV Healthcare.

As the international community commemorates the 33rd annual World AIDS Day, we want to take a moment to recognize the tireless efforts of the unsung heroes who are working to end the global HIV epidemic and improve the quality of life of people living with and affected by HIV. 

This year's World AIDS Day theme, "Global Solidarity, Shared Responsibility," reflects the urgent need for cooperation to confront common threats to our public health. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both the strengths and fragility of the HIV response. At IAPAC, we are tremendously proud of our affiliated clinicians and allied health professionals, including community health workers, who are working tirelessly to maintain a continuity of HIV services in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IAPAC is also excited to welcome several new Fast-Track Cities on World AIDS Day 2020, including Lima (Peru), Madeira (Portugal), and Seine-Saint-Denis (France). Mayors from each of these cities signed the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities to coincide with World AIDS Day 2020.

The next installment of the COVID-19 in the Americas conference continues December 2-3, 2020, with a bilingual series of panels on topics of concern throughout the Western Hemisphere, which has thus far borne the greatest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 in The Americas is sponsored by the AHF Global Public Health Institute and the Institute of Advanced Study of The Americas (both at the University of Miami) and IAPAC.

Watch all the presentations from this conference series on IAPAC's YouTube channel.

IAPAC convened the first meeting of the IAPAC-Lancet HIV Commission on the Future of Urban HIV Responses on November 19, 2020. The Commission is comprised of HIV, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and urban health experts from around the globe who are tasked with identifying the challenges and opportunities to addressing HIV at the urban level through 2030 - a topic that will only grow more important as urbanization trends continue in the years ahead.

At the Commission's launch meeting, IAPAC President/CEO Dr. José M. Zuniga discussed how the Commission will build off of the work advanced by the global network of 300+ Fast-Track Cities, and will help to solidify a new city multilateralism agenda, in which urban leaders have a seat at the global table in addressing public health crises. The IAPAC-Lancet HIV Commission will meet throughout the coming year with the aim of releasing their recommendations by World AIDS Day 2021.

The IAPAC-Lancet HIV Commission logistics are supported through grants from ViiV Healthcare and the Fast-Track Cities Institute.

IAPAC President/CEO Dr. José M. Zuniga delivered remarks last week at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for AIDS Research (JSAR) to provide an update regarding the global Fast-Track Cities initiative and to encourage Japanese cities to join the expanding network of more than 300 cities and municipalities that have signed the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities. Dr. Zuniga highlighted how Fast-Track Cities such as Bangkok and Melbourne have made significant progress towards attaining the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) HIV 90-90-90 targets.