Mourning at AIDS conference

The six-day world forum on fighting HIV and AIDS began on a sad note on Sunday, with a memorial for half a dozen delegates who died on flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

"For the next minute, let our silence represent our sadness, our anger and our solidarity," French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, conference co-chair and a Nobel laureate, said as she opened the conference in Australia.

Six delegates, including leading Dutch researcher Joep Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society, died when the plane crashed eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

"I pay my highest tribute to all those who did not complete their journey to Melbourne," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said via video link, urging participants to take strength from the dedication shown by their deceased peers.

Australian researcher Sharon Lewin, who is chairing the conference with Barre-Sinoussi, said the tight-knit AIDS community was hit hard by the loss of Lange and his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren, who was a prominent grassroots campaigner.

"I… know they would want us all to continue the great work they were both so passionate about - seeing an end to HIV," Lewin said. A candlelit vigil for the delegates is also scheduled for Tuesday night at Federation Square in Melbourne.

More than half of sufferers unaware

Around 12,000 delegates from fields including science, social activism, policymaking and business are expected at the event, called "AIDS 2014" for short, which is held every two years.

Barre-Sinoussi said the search for a cure for the Hepatitis C Virus was one key topic on the agenda, as well as a campaign in Africa encouraging male circumcision to protect men from HIV. Political issues are also up for discussion, not least legislation outlawing homesexuality in some African countries and new tougher rules on intravenous drug use in Russia. Experts say such laws are helping HIV thrive by forcing at-risk people to hide. Delegates are being urged to sign a document, the Melbourne Declaration, demanding greater tolerance.

"We will not stand idly by when governments, in full violation of all human rights principles, are enforcing monstrous laws that only marginalize populations that are already the most vulnerable in society," Barre-Sinoussi said.

UNAIDS' executive director, Michel Sidibe, said in Melbourne that more has been achieved in the past three years to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS than in the previous 25. However, Sidibe also cautioned that of an estimated 35 million people around the world currently infected with HIV, 19 million were unaware of their positive status. In 2013, 1.5 million died of an AIDS-related disease, while around 2.1 million contracted HIV.

According to UN estimates, AIDS-related diseases have killed roughly 35 million around the world; more than double the typical estimates for military and civilian casualties combined during World War One.

msh/pfd (AFP, dpa)