Conference on Research on HIV/AIDS to be held from Apr 21 to 23

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) A three-day National Conference on Research in HIV&AIDS is being organised here from tomorrow to review and identify bottlenecks in HIV&AIDS research in India.

The conference, to be inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Health&Family Welfare Panakaba Lakshmi, would provide a forum for sharing innovative ideas and to discuss various aspects of research in HIV&AIDS.

The conference has three main areas of focus. Firstly, it targets Communications, Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, secondly Biomedical Research and lastly on Programmes Research. Its objectives are to take stock of cutting edge HIV/AIDS research in India and to identify gaps and problems.

It would provide a platform for sharing and stimulating innovative and multi-disciplinary research ideas. It is also aimed to stimulate capacity in the country in areas like proposal writing, research methodology, reporting research work and presentations at International conferences.

About 630 delegates are participating in the conference. It will identify gaps in HIV&AIDS research and formulate priorities and strategies to fill the gaps.

India has the second largest estimated number of persons infected with HIV. It also has one of the largest and most complex National HIV Control Programmes in the world trying to protect 1.1 billion people from the ravages of this epidemic. NACO, 38 AIDS Control Societies, hundreds of NGOs, Blood Banks, and Hospitals actively participate in this initiative.

The pace of growth of the epidemic and its changing face necessitates consolidation and generation of information that could feed into programme. NACO felt the need to create a 'National Platform' where key stakeholders could share their experiences, exchange ideas, come together in interest groups and have a sense of belonging to a giant effort.

NACO also sees a need for not only bringing together the best examples as well as the findings of research / Operations Research in various areas of the HIV control effort, but to give a focus and direction to research so that this can help develop more effective control measures.

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