Moscow, 4 May 2008 – The second Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference (EECAAC II) began yesterday at the Moscow World Trade Center. It is the largest AIDS-focused event to date in the region with 2,050 delegates from 53 countries representing various official organizations, NGOs, international organizations, people living with HIV, charity funds and the private sector. This year, attendees from the CIS represented 84 percent of participants, a significant increase from the first conference in 2006, with an equal number of state and non-governmental organizations taking part.

“By hosting this important regional conference for the second time, the Russian Federation is fostering dialogue aimed at increasing the joint regional response to the epidemic,” stated Gennadiy G. Onishchenko, Head of the Federal Service of Protection of Consumer Rights and Human Wellbeing in Russia. “The conference in Moscow is a key instrument for developing cooperation between countries in the region, which supports the goal of accelerating access to HIV prevention, treatment and care for all, decreasing stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV, and developing co-operation between governmental and civil society organizations.”

“I am very pleased with the conference,” said Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations. “Progress made since 2006 is very encouraging, both in the number and representation of participants. This is now truly a multi-stakeholder event.”

During the opening session of the conference, the co-chairs laid out key areas of work for accelerating access to HIV prevention, treatment and care. The program includes 30 planned sessions, half of which are dedicated to scientific and technical topics. In addition, 24 practical-skills seminars and 41 satellite-events will be held. For the first time in the framework of an AIDS-related event of this magnitude in the region, there will be space dedicated to informal and open dialogue between community organizations, people living with HIV, as well as governmental and international organizations.

One such event, the community dialogue space “Besedka,” was attended by Professor Michel D. Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “Besedka was an opportunity for very open conversation with the people who do the work of fighting AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. People from all over, like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, asked tough questions because they want more to happen sooner. This dialogue with civil society, with affected communities, with international networks, is exactly how we change minds and how we get political support. It is how we beat AIDS in this region and the world,” stated Michel D. Kazatchkine.

More than 25 participants took part in a EECAAC exhibition that included 19 pharmaceutical companies that produce antiviral drugs and booths showcasing successful country initiatives and programs. “It is wonderful to see the increased engagement since the conference in 2006 and that the response to AIDS includes all actors in society – the corporate sector, community groups, NGOs, faith-based, governments and UN agencies,” said Craig McClure, Executive Director of the International AIDS Society.

The co-chairs of the conference also conducted a press conference broadcast via Internet to journalists across Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. More than 100 journalists from various countries were accredited to take part in the conference.

The second day of the conference on May 3rd will be dedicated to an array of sessions to address how to “Scale Up Multisectoral Prevention.”

For more information, please visit www.eecaac.org.

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