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At the opening ceremony on the evening of July 11, the main speakers were the Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. The opening was screened live on Thai national televsion.
Thaksin, whose government had been criticised by foreign observers for its harsh attitude to injecting drug users, surprised the conference by pledging to adopt a "harm minimization" approach to AIDS prevention among drug users, and to work co-operatively with non-government organizations, including the Thai Drug Users' Network. AIDS activists suggested that Thaksin had been promised greatly increased funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria if he adopted a more flexible attitude.
Annan, in a forceful speech, praised Thaksin and also the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, who was seated in the front row, for their leadership in developing strategies for fighting AIDS in developing countries. But he said that much more was needed, including a radical change in attitudes to women in many countries, since HIV infection is now increasing more rapidly among young women in developing countries that in any other population group. Annan said the empowerment of women, particularly in African and Asian countries, was the key to preventing the further spread of HIV infection.
The conference was attended by more than 20,000 delegates and a large contingent of local and international media. Many people with HIV/AIDS and delegates from developing countries were subsidized to attend the conference by governments, the United Nations, other international organizations and drug companies.
The United States, however, significantly reduced its official presence at the conference as compared to previous conferences. The Department of Health and Human Services, which spent US$3.6 million to sent 236 people to the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona in 2002, spend US$500,000 and sent only 50. The move was seen as a response to events in Barcelona, when Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy ThompsonTommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is the current and 19th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Born in Elroy, Wisconsin, where his father ran a gas station and country grocery store, Secretary Thompson has served most recentl was shouted down by protestors.
The co-chairs of the conference were Dr. Vallop Thaineua of Thailand and Joep Lange of the NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium, president of the International AIDS Society , which was the formal host organization. The content of the conference wasd run by three program committees, the Community Program Committee, chaired by Senator Mechai ViravaidyaMechai Viravaidya (born 1941) is a politician and activist in Thailand who has popularized condoms in that country. Mechai was born and educated in Australia. His mother is Scottish and is father is Thai. In the mid 1960s he came to Thailand and started t and Donald De Gagne , the Scientific Program Committee chaired by Professor Prasert Thongcharoen and Professor David Cooper , and the Leadership Program Committee chaired by Pakdee Pothisiri and Debrework Zewdie .
The Leadership Program section of the Conference was, however, thrown into doubt by security concerns. On July 7July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. Events 1456 Joan of Arc is acquitted of heresy (but she had already been executed). 1534 European colonization of the Americas: First known excha the Thai government cancelled a meeting on HIV/AIDS for national leaders planned as part of the conference. The leaders of 13 countries and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan were invited to the summit, which was to be hosted by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but only one national leader and Annan accepted.
As at previous international AIDS conferences, both local and international organizations staged protests about various aspects of HIV/AIDS policy at the Bangkok conference. Activists protested during the opening of the conference to call attention to what they said were failures by governments worldwide in fighting AIDS. Tight security prevented any disruption to the ceremony, although Prime Minister Thaksin was heckled during his speech by some sections of the audience.
The protests were co-ordinated by Thailand's AIDS Access Foundation. They called for increased worldwide access to antiretroviral treatments and greater financial support for treatment and prevention. Activists said that the United States and other Western nations were backtracking on funding pledges made at the Barcelona conference.
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