Conference Chair: Prof Jerry Coovadia

Theme: “Dira Sengwe – Take Action”

“This is to give you advance notice of the World AIDS Conference to be held in Durban, South Africa, during July 2000; to urge you to diarise the dates and to assure you of an unforgettable experience. We have begun preparations and are liaising closely with the International AIDS Society, GNP+, ICASO, ICW, UNAIDS and people in South Africa who will do everything to make your visit here informative, educational, comfortable and pleasurable.

I don’t believe it would be too grand to say that the blending of a few historic events, which merge into ‘AIDS 2000, Durban’, will probably make this a unique event. There is an abiding symmetry in embarking on another thousand years on the very continent that gave birth to men and women; there is an exhilarating air of freedom in a newly independent South Africa, a country whose fresh democracy has created a wonderful romance between its people and the rest of the world; and finally there is the implicit recognition that an AIDS Conference should be where the problem mainly resides - in Africa. ‘AIDS 2000, Durban’ should be the occasion when the collective experiences and capabilities of science and society converge on addressing solutions to the disease among the poor and neglected.

And Durban is the perfect place to celebrate, to learn, to share, and to commit our energies to control of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The city is rich in diversity, it sits at the confluence of three major civilisations : African, Asian and European. Visitors always delight in sharing the varied expressions of these different cultures. Durban has the dazzling beaches of the warm Indian Ocean on it’s doorstep, the magnificent Drakensberg mountains in its nearby hinterland and the natural splendours of the African continent within easy reach of its excellent transport and accommodation network.

Come join us, we have just built a state-of-the art International Convention Centre which ranks favourably with the best available anywhere.”