E-DRUG: Durban AIDS Conference to be Broadcast on Internet
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XIII International AIDS Conference to be Broadcast on World Wide Web
webcast.aids2000.com
Durban, South Africa, 26 June, 2000 - People with HIV disease and
healthcare professionals from around the world will be able to view
sessions from the XIII International AIDS Conference on the World
Wide Web, according to
organizers of this global meeting. The Webcast (webcast.aids2000.com) will
feature scientific presentations, complete with audio and video of speakers
and their slides and will be available 24 hours a day beginning July 9,
2000. The Webcast will include daily highlight summaries and up to 50
presentations from each day of the conference, which will convene in Durban,
South Africa, July 9-14.
"It has always been our intent to give the broadest possible coverage to the
proceedings of this AIDS conference. Thousands of people who are
passionately interested in new aspects of AIDS research, but unable to
travel to the conference, will be able to participate in the meeting," said
Professor Hoosen Coovadia Gustaaf Wolvaardt of the XIII International AIDS
Conference. "We hope that this global sharing of knowledge will stimulate
new thinking in the battle against HIV disease."
Speaking on behalf of the International Council of AIDS Service
Organizations, a co-organizer of the XIII International AIDS Conference,
community program chairpersons Peter Busse and Clarence Mini said,
"Community-based organizations, providing care and support to
millions of people living with HIV around the world, must continue
initiating a broad range of crucial programs and policies to help
support people living with HIV disease. The provision of information
on the Internet is an additional
resource for many of these groups and the people they serve. The organizers
of the XIII International AIDS Conference have taken a major step forward in
this effort by directly delivering conference presentations to a wider
audience. Webcast.aids2000.com is a pioneering project and one that we hope
will serve as a benchmark for other scientific conferences."
Certain presentations will be available for review online within
hours of their initial public viewing in Durban, while remaining
presentations will
be available within one to two weeks of the conference. In addition, daily
summaries of the entire conference will be available for review and print.
The Webcast service will be available at the Internet address
webcast.aids2000.com and will be operational from July 9, 2000 until
December 31, 2001.
The International AIDS Conference takes place once every two years
and is the largest international HIV/AIDS forum for sharing new
clinical,
scientific and social data. More than 10,000 delegates are expected to
attend this year's meeting in Durban, including scientists, physicians and
other healthcare professionals, people with HIV/AIDS, representatives of
community groups and social workers.
The Webcast is made possible by the financial sponsorship of Gilead
Sciences, Inc. "We are very pleased to be able to support this pioneering
project," said John C. Martin, Ph.D., President and CEO of Gilead Sciences.
"By providing timely worldwide access to the comprehensive information
presented at the conference, the Webcast will make a significant
contribution to the knowledge base of all who are involved in the global
fight against HIV."
The Webcast service provider is MediTech Media Ltd., an international
medical communications agency with offices in the UK, USA, Germany, Italy,
Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.