International AIDS conference coming to Melbourne

6 December 2011

The world’s premier international conference on HIV/AIDS and the largest medical event in Australian history will be held in Melbourne in July 2014.

During the World AIDS Day for Victoria launch in the Parliament Gardens, Minister for Health David Davis announced that Melbourne had won its bid to host the 2014 International AIDS Conference.

“The conference – organised by the International AIDS Society – will be largest ever medical event in Australia’s history,” Mr Davis said.

“This is a massive coup for Victoria and further cements our reputation around the world as a leader in hosting large-scale health and medical conferences.”

The 2014 conference is expected to attract between 14,000 and 20,000 delegates from 200 countries and to inject more than $85 million into the Victorian economy. More than 2000 journalists will be covering the event.

The International AIDS Conference is held every two years with the next conference to be held in Washington DC in 2012.

The event is the world’s largest regular conference on any health or development issue and will provide an invaluable opportunity to showcase Victoria and Australia as a world leader in tackling HIV globally and in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Since the start of the epidemic, there have been over 30,000 diagnoses of HIV in Australia. Victoria has recorded the second highest rate of diagnosis with 6,447 Victorians having been diagnosed to date.

Victoria’s HIV diagnosis has remained stable for the past four years with around 260 cases annually.