23:31 – HIV resurgence at the center of the International AIDS Conference

A resurgence of the HIV virus in some countries around the world, prompted by strict laws on drug use, including syringe sharing, worries the members of the international AIDS conference that opened on Monday. Amsterdam.

Thousands of delegates – researchers, activists, activists and people with the deadly virus – gathered for a five-day conference, while a relaxation in prevention, combined with a decline in international funding, raises fear of rebounding epidemic.

The 22nd International AIDS Conference attempts to capitalize on the celebrity of some militant stars, such as 2014 Eurovision Winner Conchita Wurst, to support the glaring warnings of many

The singer, who announced in April that she is HIV-positive and on antiretroviral treatment, took the opportunity of the opening ceremony to stress that millions of people still do not have access to these vital medicines.

"How long will it take for us to make affordable research and therapies available to every human being who needs them?" she asked.

Other personalities like Prince Harry, actress Charlize Theron or singer Elton John will take over from Conchita on Tuesday.

With a record 36.9 million people currently experts have warned that we must not let our guard down, despite progress.

"In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of new infections has increased by 30% since 2010" says Linda Gail Bekker, President of the International AIDS Society, in the Dutch capital.

This is "the only region in the world where the HIV virus is growing rapidly, largely because of the injecting drug use. "

– Too slow –

" Despite all the remarkable advances that have been made, progress towards ending AIDS is still slow, "said Tedros Ghebreyesus, director of World Health Organization

M. Ghebreyesus warned that the UN's 2020 targets on HIV and AIDS "will not be achieved" because there are too many places in the world where people do not have access to prevention services and of treatment they need. "

Primarily transmitted by badual or blood contact, the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, has infected nearly 80 million people since the early 1980s. More than 35 million between them died

"When I was born 20 years ago with the HIV virus, the landscape of the epidemic was very different from what it is today," said young woman Mercy Ngulube. badistant conference activist

"It is so wonderful to be able to live a life in which I do not have to wake up and wonder if we have tools to fight HIV."

"But it's also sad to live a life in which I know we have these tools and some people They do not have access to it, "she added.

According to UNAIDS, $ 7 billion a year is needed to stop the disease from becoming a threat to global public health in 2030.

– "No" to the war against drugs –

A major cause of this resurgence is the repressive drug injection laws put in place in many countries, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia – – including in Russia.

That is why a group of badociations present at the conference set up a campaign entitled: "Say no to the war on drugs", diverting a famous American drug slogan from the Reagan administration of the 1980s.

During the opening ceremony, UNAIDS President Michel Sidibe was interrupted by several women in protest against what they call "the machine of patriarchy" .

Suspected of having protected one of his colleagues accused of badual harbadment, Mr Sidibe refused to resign last week.

The conference also paid tribute to six colleagues of the International AIDS Society who died when the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, on its way to the 2014 conference in Melbourne, was shot dead in midair.

"The the world continues to seek justice for what happened on this terrible day, "said Peter Reiss, one of the presidents of the conference.