By Canadian Press

Progress made at Montreal AIDS conference despite visa issues, organizer says

Aug 2, 2022 | 2:16 PM

MONTREAL — The local organizer of an international AIDS conference in Montreal says the event has helped highlight the enormous progress that has been made in HIV research and treatment technology.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Routy, local chair of the conference, says the biggest breakthrough presented was research showing that a single injection of a long-lasting antiretroviral medication can prevent people from acquiring an HIV infection for two months, replacing daily pills.

Despite visa issues that prevented hundreds of delegates from attending, Routy says that people from 172 countries were present at the event, which ends today.

But Tinashe Rufurwadzo, the director of programs, management and governance at Y+ Global, an international organization of HIV-positive youth, says the AIDS 2022 conference was bittersweet.

He says that those attending were able to have meetings that might not otherwise be possible, such as with government officials and pharmaceutical executives, but many voices were missing because of the visa issues.

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More than 9,000 people were scheduled to attend in person, with another 2,000 people registered to take part online. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2022.

The Canadian Press