The Director of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Dr. John Kibosia, will attend the International Aids Conference in Washington DC, USA.

The conference that runs from 22^nd July, 2012 to 27^th July, 2012 will bring together some 25,000 Scientists, People Living with HIV, and other stakeholders will be marked under the theme: “Turning the Tide Together”.

According to information posted on the official conference website for the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush and South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe confirmed to address the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Senators John Kerry and Lindsey Graham, U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and The Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs are also scheduled to attend the week-long conference.

Former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush will speak at a Special Session on Leadership in the AIDS Response for Women.

“We are delighted to welcome the world’s leading AIDS scientists and activists to AIDS 2012, and to have secured these high-level keynote speakers at this crucial time in the global response to HIV,” notes Elly Katabira, the International Chair of AIDS 2012 and President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) on the conference website.

In the last few years various research trials, including HPTN 052, CAPRISA 004, TDF2, Partners PrEP, and iPrEx have demonstrated with solid evidence the efficacy of HIV treatment as prevention, while other studies are currently investigating the possibility of a cure for HIV.

“The past few years have been a scientific watershed in the life of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, one that has given us the tools to potentially make major inroads into the epidemic on an unprecedented scale,” says Katabira.

The theme of AIDS 2012, Turning the Tide Together, has been selected to emphasize how a global and decisive commitment is crucial to change the course of the epidemic now that science is presenting promising results in HIV treatment and biomedical prevention.

This biennial event is the world’s largest meeting on AIDS, where leading scientists report on the latest AIDS research, and together with implementers, community leaders and policymakers, help to identify next steps in the global response to AIDS.

“AIDS 2012 represents a unique occasion to mobilize policy makers, governments, NGOs, scientists, people living with HIV and civil society to join forces,” said Dr. Diane Havlir, U.S. Co-Chair of AIDS 2012 and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with over 16,000 members from more than 196 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS.