In the lead up to the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), several major news outlets reported on the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and expectations for the conference. The following summarizes several of these reports.

• PBS NewsHour: Correspondent Ray Suarez discusses the conference with AIDS 2012 U.S. Co-Chair Diane Havlir of the University of California, San Francisco, and Joseph Elias, AIDS 2012 Global Village coordinator, about the optimism surrounding the conference. Addressing the fact that the conference is back in the U.S. for the first time in 22 years, Havlir said, “Having it back here in the United States, one of the significant elements of it, represents a human rights victory” (7/20).
• Seattle Times: The article says that despite optimism, the conference is taking place in one of the worst-affected areas of the U.S. “and in a nation where the disease has a disproportionate impact on poor and minority communities.” The newspaper discusses the epidemic in the District of Columbia and outlines challenges to reducing HIV incidence (Tate, 7/21).
• Washington Post: The article examines treatment and care advances since the conference was last held in the U.S. In addition, “[t]he public’s understanding of AIDS has also progressed,” the newspaper writes, noting the results of a Kaiser Family Foundation/Washington Post poll that shows the host country “understands the sea change in AIDS of the past two decades but is unaware of many details of the progress of recent years” (Brown, 7/21).