AIDS 2024, the 25th International AIDS Conference, Munich, Germany, and virtually 22-26 July 2024 - Project Summary
Without significant additional political leadership, investment and further scientific advance, the global
response to HIV/AIDS is not on track to achieve the 2030 goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
This is due to continued high rates of incident HIV infection in multiple communities, populations,
countries, and regions. While HIV science has made remarkable advances, implementation of highly
effective prevention and treatment options remains challenging. Taken together, these realities
underscore that the HIV response must be global to succeed, that HIV research and training efforts
must also be global and multidisciplinary, and that actors in all sectors of the HIV response are needed
to address our shared goal of reducing HIV as a threat to global health and individual wellbeing. To
respond to this imperative, the 25th International AIDS Conference, AIDS 2024, will convene the HIV
community in Munich, Germany, and virtually in July 2024.
AIDS 2024 will bring together clinicians and people living with HIV, community leaders and policy
makers, basic scientists, junior investigators, donors, journalists, and experts from law, policy and
program implementation. This diversity is essential to revitalizing the HIV response, since multi-sectoral
and multi-disciplinary work is needed. Munich was also selected as host city to bring a specific focus
on Central and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and the Russian Federation, where the HIV epidemic
continues to expand, driven by a lack of access to health services for key populations and exacerbated
by the disruption and instability of the war in Ukraine, mass migration and faltering economies.
AIDS 2024 aims to:
1. Accelerate scientific discovery to drive innovation across the HIV prevention and treatment
cascades, including pathogenesis, transmission, co-morbidities, vaccines, and cure; long-acting oral
and injectable treatment and prevention technologies, including rings for prevention; integrated and
differentiated models of care; and analyses of structural and economic determinants of health.
2. Advance core components of implementation science research that address the challenges
and opportunities of implementing novel prevention and treatment modalities in different populations
and contexts, including implementation of long-acting antiretrovirals for prevention and treatment, and
in settings of conflict and displacement.
3. Address HIV vulnerability and determinants of disease progression among key and
vulnerable populations, including novel interventions and implementation science to reduce stigma
and discrimination, including intersectional stigmas of HIV, homophobia, transphobia, and ethnic and
racial disparities.
4. Draw attention to enduring gaps in the HIV response, such as areas where greater investment
is needed in research and person-centered service delivery, and where the needs of communities
remain neglected.
5. Explore complex dynamics of the still expanding HIV epidemic in Central and Eastern
Europe, including structural barriers preventing uptake of services by key and vulnerable populations
and the impact of the war in Ukraine.
The scientific program will consist of six tracks: Track A/Basic and translational research; Track
B/Clinical research; Track C/Epidemiology and prevention research; Track D/Social and behavioral
research; Track E/Implementation research, economics, systems and synergies; and Track F/Political
research, law, policy and human rights. Main topics, challenges and developments to be addressed in
each track are described below. While the scientific program of the conference is developed by
international members of track committees representative of different disciplines and areas of science,
cross-cutting aspects will be covered in plenary talks that also connect the scientific tracks with
community and policy perspectives. Additionally, bridging sessions are designed to cut across at least
two of the scientific tracks to provide opportunities for multi-disciplinary, multi-perspective dialogues. A
particular emphasis will be placed on ensuring interaction between on-site and virtual conference
delegates in Q&A and discussion sessions through the use of advanced conferencing technology.
Access and diversity will remain key guiding principles at AIDS 2024, with large scholarship and youth
programs to strengthen engagement and capacities of the next generation of researchers, clinicians,
educators, and advocates. The conference will be fully hybrid with all conference sessions accessible
online live and on demand.
