The Turks and Caicos Islands will be represented at the 2022 AIDS Conference to be held in Montreal, Canada, and virtually between July 29 and August 2.
The TCI will attend in person with a delegation headed by Aldora Robinson, National AIDS Program Coordinator at Turks and Caicos Islands Government.
Themed ‘Re-engage and follow the science’, the AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference, will call on the world to come together to re-engage and follow the science. It is also slated to define future research agendas, shift latest evidence to action, and chart a new consensus on overcoming the HIV epidemic as a threat to public health and individual well-being.
The conference will also present and critically discuss latest evidence, including in relation to research and development towards an HIV vaccine and cure, long-acting treatment and prevention technologies, integrated and differentiated models of care, findings from community-led research, monitoring and innovations in service delivery, and analyses of structural and economic determinants of health.
It is also geared to support evidence-informed action by all stakeholders across geographic and sectoral boundaries through further increased access to latest science, policy and community discussions in a combined in person and virtual format.
Visa Denials Threat
In the meantime, the International AIDS Society (IAS) said it was troubled by the number of reported visa denials to delegates registered for the conference. Some of those delegates are IAS staff, according to that organization.
“IAS – the International AIDS Society – is deeply concerned by the high number of denied and pending visas by Canadian authorities,” IAS said said. “This is preventing many people from some of the countries most affected by HIV from entering Canada and attending AIDS 2022, including IAS staff and leadership.
“Delayed and denied visas affect our ability to host a truly inclusive conference that is representative of communities most affected by HIV. The Conference Organizing Committee has escalated its concerns to the highest levels so that as many people who wish to attend AIDS 2022 are able to do so.”