News

EACS is saddened about the sudden passing of David Stuart. He was a prominent much respected and loved activist in the UK; but his reach was across Europe and globally. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.

Dear EACS Members

It has been forty years since the first cases of AIDS were described in the USA. We lost many good people, but we have come a long way since then; efficient testing and prevention, effective, well-tolerated, easy-to-use and widely available anti-retroviral therapy and prevention. However, things have not been as straightforward. The last two years have been dominated by another pandemic; COVID-19. Many of us have lost friends, family, loved-ones and colleagues to yet another dreadful viral infection. Not only has this set us back from achieving our targets for ending AIDS as a major threat but has also highlighted many of the inequalities that exist in health and social care globally, regionally and nationally.

Now, more than ever is the time to tackle inequalities and get the global response to both these pandemics on track. It is time to apply lessons learned.

As the recent UNAIDS 2021 report; “Confronting Inequalities: Lessons for pandemic responses from 40 years of AIDS” shows that, in 2020, we had 680 000 AIDS-related deaths and 1.5 million new infections. There were 37.7 million people living with HIV, of who 10.2 million were not on treatment. There are inequalities at many levels; testing and prevention services, ART provision, harm-reduction services, criminalisation and the failure to address the needs of key populations. Moreover, lack of joined-up physical and wholistic psycho-social care for people living with HIV and stigma are widespread.

Despite the hardships of COVID-19, our mission at EACS remains steadfast. We will continue to work with our members, clinical and academic organisations, community organisations, governments, NGOs and the pharmaceutical industry to advance knowledge, promote and develop good practice, value advances in scientific technologies and above all, dispel stigma and challenge inequalities.

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt which was displayed at the recent European AIDS Conference in London, reminds us of the need to always remember and cherish the ones that we have lost and remember the lessons for our future.

As 2021 draws to a close, and we commemorate World AIDS Day, let’s cross boundaries and work together to end inequalities.

We need each other. No one forgotten, none left behind. This concerns us all.

Please remain active members of our EACS Society and stay safe.

Sanjay Bhagani, President, EACS
Esteban Martinez, President-elect, EACS

1-2 December 2021

The Mayo Clinic/University of Liverpool Virtual Conference on Clinical Pharmacology of Antiretrovirals and Antimycobacterials is a two half-day event on 1st - 2nd December 2021, between 3:00 – 6:00 PM GMT, designed for healthcare professionals faced with prescribing antiretroviral and antimycobacterial treatment in increasingly complex patients. 

The virtual conference, with free registration, seeks to improve patient treatment outcomes through educating attendees on emerging topics in antiretroviral and antimycobacterial clinical management, especially in relation to clinical pharmacology (pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics), management of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and complex patient cases.

For further details and registration, click here.

22 November 2021

120 mins (18:00-20:00 Japan time, 10:00-12:00 CET)

Opening address: Sanjay Bhagani, EACS President, United Kingdom

Chairs :

EACS

• Jürgen Rockstroh, Germany
• Tristan Barber, United Kingdom

Japanese Society for AIDS Research

• Toshibumi Taniguchi, Japan
• Takashi Muramatsu
• Hideta Nakamura

Case-based discussions

Case 1: Management of long-term ART and co-morbidities

Presenter: Ryuui Miyashita, Japan

Case 2: Management of unsuppressed viremia/resistance

Presenter: Yasuaki Yanagawa, Japan

Case 3: COVID-19 and HIV

Presenter: Maria Mazzitelli, Italy

Read more

23 November 2021

NCHIV serves as platform for stakeholders in the Netherlands to share and discuss the latest insights and developments in research concerning the pathogenesis, epidemiology, prevention and treatment of HIV.

NCHIV is intended for a wide audience, including biomedical scientists in HIV/AIDS, HIV treating physicians, pharmacologists, infectious disease epidemiologists, (medical) microbiologists and HIV nurses.

More information on the programme

London, 30 October 2021

It is time to change the paradigm of fighting something. Therefore, the key message of the new campaign is:

“Respect diversity: HIV status, sex work, sex, gender, sexuality, migration, mobility, choice, love, freedom, diversity, dignity, ethnicity, special needs, well-being, sexual and mental health, intimacy, lust, rights, faith and humanity”.

The main event of the campaign is a demonstration and march through the streets of London on Saturday 30 October, at 2:30pm UK time.

More information

The race to support children living with HIV will kick off on 27 October at 17:45 GMT at the opening ceremony of the 18th European AIDS Conference held at ExCeL London. The race will end 36 days later on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan on World AIDS Day – 1 December 2021.

The aim of the race is to raise the level of public awareness and understanding around the problems faced by children and adolescents living with HIV in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Funds raised will also provide support for a camp for Russian-speaking children living with HIV.

More information

21 October 2021

Since the pandemic outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, the HIV Cure Research Center lab has invested heavily in the initiation of key COVID-19 research. Therefore, for the second year in a row, we decided to organize an HIV and SARS-CoV-2 hybrid symposium, which will take place on the 21st of October. During this symposium key aspects of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and HIV cure will be discussed.

The deadline for abstract submission is October 7th, 2021.

For more information about the symposium, click here.