Renata Sanders

The AIDS 2022 Conference began today with acknowledgment of the Haudenosaunee people of the Tiohtiake land, ancestral spirits, and lives lost to HIV; interwoven with protests; and ended with a message of direction, hope, and renewed passion to strive towards ending the HIV epidemic and addressing HIV inequities.

The program, “Re-engage & follow the science,” was launched by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers (Fazio/Standup), and introductions from AIDS 2022 Co-Chairs Professors Adeeba Kamarulzaman (IAS President) and Jean-Pierre Routy who highlighted how the science has been critical to the success of the HIV response, the need to involve stakeholders at every level to address global inequities and systemic racism, and the need to ensure access to all. Tim McCaskell, a queer writer, activist, and founding member of AIDS Action Now!, spoke about parallels between 1989 and today - climate crisis, women's right to choose, immigration, and HIV criminalization, and called for us to "act up, fight back, fight AIDS!" Protests broke out reminding the audience, “Another minute another death AIDS is not over.” Mrs. Winifred Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, reminded the audience we have the tools to end AIDS. The session ended with a panelist discussion led by Andre Picard, and 3 panelists - Linda-Gail Bekker, Rachel Ong, and John Nkengasong - reviewing the incredible strides made to address HIV; financial and political gaps to address HIV rapidly; and the hope, boldness, and courage that we can do this together. Omar Sharif, Jr served as Master of Ceremony.

This morning’s session reminds us that unless we address political, financial, and social inequity, racism, and structural barriers to care, among those most vulnerable, we will never reach our goal to eliminate HIV. Through collective social action, we need to remove visa barriers, ensure that a diversity of racial, social, and gender identities are represented (including non-binary, cis, transgender women and men), and simultaneously, engage all key populations – the sex worker, the person who injects drugs, the adolescent and aging adult, at the table, with not only a seat but also food on their table.