The XVIII International AIDS Conference, Rights Here, Rights Now, is being held in Vienna, Austria from 18th-23rd July 2010. Held every two years, the International AIDS Conference is the largest international meeting on HIV, attended by 25,000 participants representing all stakeholders in the global response to HIV, who meet to assess progress and identify future priorities. With more than 2,500 international journalists expected to attend, the conference is the single most widely covered health event in the world.

In previous years, palliative care has had a low profile at the International AIDS Conferences (1-3), so it is with great pleasure that we anticipate and support the first plenary on palliative care at this year’s conference.  Dr Liz Gwyther, CEO of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of South Africa, will be presenting on Care-giving and support on 23rd July.
  
The Department of Palliative care at King’s College London, in collaboration with international partner organisations, has submitted six abstracts to the conference:

1. Quality of life improves after HIV diagnosis, but ART is not the cause: a multicentre longitudinal study in Kenya and Uganda (V. Simms, R. Harding, S. Penfold, E. Namisango, R.A. Powell, et al.)
2. A longitudinal multi-methods outcome evaluation of patient care and support in Kenya and Uganda(R. Harding, V. Simms, S. Penfold, E. Namisango, R.A. Powell, et al.)
3. Addressing care needs beyond ART: a mixed-methods study to measure multidimensional needs among HIV outpatients in 2 African countries (R. Harding, V. Simms, S. Penfold, E. Namisango, R.A. Powell, et al.)
4. The problems at HIV diagnosis are severe and under-researched: a systematic review (V. Simms, R. Harding, I.J. Higginson)
5. Spiritual wellbeing among people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: a mixed-methods, multi-centre study (L. Selman, R. Harding, I.J. Higginson, M. Gysels, The Encompass Collaborative)
6. Using street surveys in Kenya to identify public preferences and priorities for end-of-life care: Results of the PRISMA pilot study (J. Downing, N. Gikaara, G. Munene, F. Mwangi-Powell, B. Gomes, R. Harding, B. Daveson, I.J. Higginson, on behalf of Project PRISMA)

Notification of acceptance or rejection of abstracts by the Scientific Committee is due in early April. If you have submitted an abstract related to palliative care and it is accepted for poster or oral presentation, please notify Claire Morris, International Advocacy and Programmes Manager at Help the Hospices, who will be compiling a schedule of palliative care events and abstracts at the conference ().

Lucy Selman, Research Associate
King’s College London

References
  (1)    Harding R, Easterbrook P, Dinat N, Higginson IJ. Letter: Pain and symptom control in HIV disease: under-researched and poorly managed. CID 2005 Feb 1;40.
  (2)    Harding R, Gwyther L, Mwangi-Powell F. Letter: Treating HIV/AIDS patients until the end of life. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2007 Mar 1;44(3):364.
  (3)    Harding R, Krakauer EL, Sithole Z, De Lima L, Selman L. Letter: The 'lost' HIV population: time to refocus our clinical and research efforts. AIDS 2009;23:145-6.