DUSHANBE, July 24, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Tajik physician Dilbar Karobekova is participating in the 20th International AIDS Conference, which kicked off in Melbourne, Australia on July 20 and runs through until July 25.

Some 12,000 participants from all over the world have gathered in Melbourne for the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014).

Tributes were paid on July 20 at the opening session of the 20th International AIDS Conference to the six delegates who lost their lives aboard flight MH17.

A one minute global moment of remembrance was held in their honor with eleven former, present and future Presidents of the International AIDS Society onstage together with representatives from those organizations who lost colleagues, the World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS Fonds, Stop AIDS Now, The Female Health Company, the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and members of the Dutch HIV research community.

Under the theme Stepping up the Pace , the conference delegates are discussing the latest research developments and hearing about the status of the epidemic from world renowned experts.   

AIDS 2014 has offered delegates a strong scientific program with presentations around hot topics including HIV cure strategies and challenges; HIV prevention via Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Treatment as Prevention (TasP), and voluntary medical male circumcision; Tuberculosis and Hepatitis C co-infection; and HIV and hormonal contraception.

The AIDS 2014 Melbourne Declaration reaffirms the importance of non-discrimination for an effective response to HIV and, more in general, to public health programs.  The enforcement of discriminatory, stigmatizing, criminalizing and harmful laws leads to policies and practices that increase vulnerability to HIV.  These laws, policies, and practices incite extreme violence towards marginalized populations, reinforce stigma and undermine HIV programs, and as such are significant steps backward for social justice, equality, human rights and access to health care.

According to statistical data from the World Health Organization (WHO), at the end of 2013, 35 million people were living with HIV.  Over 28 million people are eligible for antiretroviral therapy, under WHO 2013 consolidated ARV guidelines and at the end of 2013, 11.7 million people had access to antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries.