Recent gains in controlling the global HIV/AIDS epidemic may be threatened: key HIV incidence rates are declining only modestly, the sustainability of current programs to expand ART remains unclear, and the “youth bulge” in sub-Saharan Africa is contributing to a growing at-risk population. Although much effort has been devoted to prevention and treatment of HIV disease, these interventions face major technical and/or implementation challenges. Thus, an alternative approach to lifelong ART therapy is needed: one that will either completely eliminate HIV from the body or durably suppress viremia in the absence of ART.

This Keystone Symposium will convene investigators from around the world to focus on strategies for eradication and durable remission. In particular, we will address how to achieve this goal in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC) wherein the epidemic continues to rage. Together, we will tackle important questions including:

1. What is the biology of the rebound competent reservoir of HIV?
2. How can this reservoir be measured, quantitatively and qualitatively, with minimally invasive tools?
3. What therapeutic approaches might reduce the size of the reservoir and/or keep it at bay upon interruption of ART?
4. How can we assure that such interventions will be available to all of those in need, wherever they may reside?

This meeting is unique from any other in the past in the sense that it not only directly addresses the need for a curative intervention in LMICs, it is also being held in one such country, organized by and drawing key participation from stakeholders from these hard-hit regions.

In the video below, Drs. Thumbi Ndung'u, DVM, PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Cissy Kityo, MD, PhD from the Joint Clinical Research Centre, talk about why you should attend this meeting:

Excited about the meeting? Check out the speaker highlights below: