23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020), San Francisco and Oakland, United States, 6-10 July 2020 - Project Summary
Since the 22nd International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam in 2018, there has been an extraordinary array of
promising advances across HIV science. Both the prevention and treatment cascades are likely to be
transformed in coming years as these advances are refined and enter the clinic and HIV programs. Although
we arguably have the necessary tools to end the epidemic, HIV incidence has been stagnant or, in some
places, increasing, due to a number of primarily social determinants, including continued stigma and
discrimination, regressive substance use policies, poverty, unstable housing, and intersectional stigmas
including gender and race/ethnicity; as well as political fragility and population mobility. A global convening
which brings together scientists, implementors, affected communities, governments and other stakeholders is
urgently needed at this critical juncture. AIDS 2020 must also be a convening on accountability, to stake stock
of why we have failed to achieve 2020 targets of declines in new infections, globally and in the United States,
and why we continue to see too many AIDS deaths and persistent stigma and discrimination.
AIDS 2020 will be held in San Francisco and Oakland, with an expected attendance of at least 20,000 HIV
scientists, clinicians, policy makers, and civil society, community and private sector representatives. AIDS 2020
will facilitate urgently needed collaborations, highlighting the trajectories of specific epidemics and focusing on
models of effective responses in different political and socio-economic contexts for debate and dissemination.
The dual host cities of AIDS 2020 were chosen in part because these two cities demonstrate inequities in
socio-economic determinants and now face different trajectories in their HIV epidemics, paralleling other
settings within the United States and echoing inequities between the global North and South.
The specific aims of AIDS 2020 are to:
1. Present the latest advances in HIV science across the many relevant disciplines in the field, with
particular emphasis on advances in immunology and virology to help develop a safe and effective vaccine,
on strategies to further the cure agenda; on safer HIV therapies with novel delivery platforms; and on
managing co-infections and co-morbidities, especially as patients age.
2. Promote rights-based, evidence-informed, equitably funded HIV programming tailored to the needs
of key and vulnerable communities living with HIV or at risk, including displaced populations, men who
have sex with men, women and adolescent girls, people in prisons and other closed settings, people who
use drugs, sex workers, indigenous populations, transgender people, children and youth.
3. Examine the impact of stigma, social injustice and social determinants of health on the HIV
epidemic and analyze different local epidemics, particularly within North and Latin America, to strengthen
the evidence base for innovation in access to healthcare services and social protection for communities.
4. Strengthen commitment from governments, donors, the private sector and civil society for an inclusive,
sustainable and adequately financed HIV response that promotes health coverage and access, scales up
comprehensive prevention approaches, advances universal antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure
prophylaxis coverage, and reforms prohibitive and counterproductive drug and other relevant policies.
5. Amplify the voices of young people and emphasize training of the next generation of clinicians,
researchers, educators, and advocates by providing an innovative and inclusive platform for youth and
emerging leaders to meaningfully lead discussions on science, research, policy and programs
The scientific program will newly consist of six tracks: Track A - Basic and Translational Research; Track B -
Clinical Research; Track C - Epidemiology and Prevention Science; Track D - Social and Behavioural
Research; Track E - Implementation Research, Economics, Systems and Synergies with other Health and
Development Sectors; and Track F - Political research, law, policy and human rights. Cross-cutting aspects will
be covered in plenary talks that also connect the scientific tracks with community and leadership perspectives,
and bridging sessions will cut across at least two of the tracks to provide opportunities for multi-disciplinary
dialogues. The participation of young researchers, basic scientists and researchers in related fields such as
non-communicable diseases will be strengthened by active solicitation of relevant science and the provision of
specific financial support, in addition to increased remote-access options. Key science from the conference will
be disseminated and discussed in regional contexts following AIDS 2020. The conference will take advantage
of its proximity to leading technology companies in the Bay Area when exploring the use of technologies in
innovative delivery platforms for prevention, treatment and care in the context of differentiated service delivery.
