Munich (dpa) – This week, Munich is the venue of the world’s largest scientific meeting to combat HIV – the virus that causes AIDS. More than 10,000 participants are expected to attend the 25th International AIDS Conference, with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz opening the meeting.
Until Friday, doctors, health experts and activists from more than 175 countries invited by the International AIDS Society will discuss how the pathogen HIV and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS can be further contained. It is the first time in three decades that the conference is being held in Germany: the experts gathered in Berlin in 1993.
The number of deaths caused by AIDS has been reduced to less than a third since 2004, when the disease killed around two million people worldwide . But according to figures issued by the UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), one person still dies every minute as a result of AIDS. UNAIDS says that almost 40 million people worldwide were living with the virus in 2022, while around a quarter – 9.2 million – had insufficient access to treatment or none at all.
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