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March 13, 2018

San Francisco and Oakland Partner to Host AIDS 2020

 

We are thrilled to share that just announced by the International AIDS Society (IAS) this morning, in July 2020, San Francisco and Oakland, California, USA are partnering to host the 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020), returning the world’s largest HIV conference to the Bay Area 30 years after the region emerged as an epicenter of the AIDS epidemic. A proud moment for our city and country, and we are honored to support this selection.

Led by San Francisco AIDS Foundation and San Francisco Travel, the host city bid committee included the Oakland Mayor’s Office, San Francisco Department of Public Health, Alameda County Public Health Department, and the University of California, San Francisco.

As Anton Pozniak, AIDS 2020 International Chair says, “The partnership of San Francisco and Oakland hosting AIDS 2020 serves as an apt metaphor for the global effort to end HIV - working together, across political and social divides to achieve our goal of ending this pandemic.”

We couldn’t agree more.

“San Francisco will never forget the severity and magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic—we lost our friends, family members and neighbors,” said San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell in a San Francisco AIDS Foundation press release. “Our own San Francisco General Hospital was the first hospital in the country to open its doors to people living with AIDS and we have been fighting the epidemic ever since.”

It is a true privilege to work with these partners in welcoming our colleagues from around the world to the Bay Area.

Please read the full IAS press release to learn more.

The story of AIDS 2020 can be found at www.aids2020.org, which describes the historic and current epidemiological profiles of both cities, as well as the bid process and the reasons for the San Francisco-Oakland selection.

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