Understanding factors and mechanisms, cellular pathways, viral features and immune interaction of mucosal HIV transmission should provide important insight to design prevention methods to interrupt transmission.

To date responses to the epidemic have been largely individualistic, bypassing families.

Around the world HIV continues to spread among men who have sex with men (MSM).

The past decade has shown that providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) makes clinical, social and economic sense. ART is bending all epidemiological curves, resulting in reduced morbidity and mortality, and recent research now shows that treatment also reduces HIV incidence. Despite this evidence, donors are shifting their focus away from AIDS just as efforts should be ramped up.

Of the 33.2 million people living with HIV a third are estimated to also be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

According to the latest data, significant progress has been made in delivering prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services in low- and middle-income countries.

For more information on this session, including access to speaker presentations, please see the conference Programme-at-a-Glance.

Three years after the adoption of the WHO/UNAIDS Guidance on Provider-Initiated HIV Testing and Counseling, universal access to HIV testing remains a distant goal.

The severe stigma attached to HIV makes it a sensitive and often politically unattractive issue to champion.

This special session will discuss challenges for youth organizations dealing with HIV/AIDS.