Australasian HIV & AIDS Conference final summary

Final summary of the Australasian HIV&AIDS Conference. Please read on…

In a panel on Power, Partnerships and Participation, Elan Lazuardi presented her work with Outreach Workers in 3 cities in Java (Surakarta, Semarang, and Yogyakarta). The final day of the Australasian STI & HIV Congress was full of information-rich presentations and vibrant discussions in four parallel sessions on numerous themes ranging from ARV guidelines to Culture, Sex and Technology. Perhaps one of the hottest topics was Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – a daily pill that HIV negative people can take to prevent HIV infection. PrEP has taken the world by storm and could revolutionise our approach to HIV prevention (yet to be approved for use in Australia).

The Joint World STI & HIV Congress and Australasian HIV & AIDS Conference has been trending widely on twitter (#AUSHIVAIDS2015 & #worldSTI2015), blogs, and facebook this week. Here are some links to the blog posts and articles arising from the conference that have been trending this week:

• AIDS cases stable, other STIs on the rise
• Approaches to HIV and aging
• ART Guidelines Discussion
• ART Perspectives- Symposium- Who’s life is it anyway?
• Benefits of self collected samples for cervical screening
• Congratulations Cuba!
• Criminal endangerment offences are an obstacle to the HIV response
• Excessive Intellectual Property Protection for HIV Treatments
• Find Me, Treat me, PrEP me, Heal me Panel Discussion
• Genital inflammation and HIV transmission
• The Global Elimination of Hep C
• HCV – a 25-year (r)evolution
• HCV – Treatment As Prevention
• HIV Co-infections, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and TB
• HIV and Co-Morbidity
• HIV and cardiovascular disease
• HIV and syphilis: a syndemic with no end in sight?
• HIV and Women’s Health
• Indian blood: Two Spirit return, Mixed Race Identity and Critical Interventions in HIV
• Late breakers
• Law reform to reduce HIV transmission
• Legal and human rights, stigma and discrimination
• The Mega Model!
• Methamphetamine and HIV
• Negotiating Change
• NSW HIV strategy and HIV treatment cascade
• Peer Advocacy network for the Sexual Health
• Penelope Lowe Trainee Breakfast
• PrEP in Focus
• Notes from a PrEP user
• Qld to develop first sexual health strategy
• $5 million plan to tackle Queensland’s sexual health
• Should we be treating anal cancer precursors?
• Social and Behavioural Research
• STI / HIV and Pregnancy
• STIs continue to climb according to rise
• Study Claims Internet Is Most Common Source of Sexuality Education of LGBTQI Youth
• The Good and the Bad of HCV
• Time to change to TAF based regimens
• Toxicities
• Update on vaccines
• Transgender is not a gender identity
• Treatment to prevent HIV – Does timing matter?
• Treatment to Prevent HIV: Opening Plenary HIV&AIDS 2015
• QuAC launch of PrEP programme
• Research into a HIV cure

Active bloggers have included (in no particular order & not an exhaustive list):

• Janelle Small
• Crystal Connelly
• Pauline Cundill
• Mel Kelly
• Vanessa Towell
• Ivette Aguirre
• Peggy Bain
• Jeffrey McMullen
• Joanne Leamy
• Gwamaka Mwasakifwa

Posters

Poster sessions continued throughout the week, providing an exciting space for discussion and exchange. Khine Soe Lin from the University of Melbourne received the Runner Up Poster Presentation Award for his poster, “Identities in Motion: Cyberspace and Myanmar Men having Sex with Men“. Poster listings can be located here.

For summaries of previous days, please visit:

• Australasian HIV & AIDS Conference 2nd last day 
• Thursday Summary
• A message about advocacy (Day 5)
• STI & HIV Congress ends, HIV & AIDS conference begins
• World STI and HIV Congress day 3  
• Take home messages for GPs (Day 2)
• Joint World STI & HIV & ASHM Congress
• STI, HIV, AIDS, TB, conferences of this month