2014-07-20 19:17:00

Aids Conference pays tribute to dead delegates


(Vatican Radio) Sunday saw the somber kick-off of the 20th International AIDS Conference taking place until July 25th in Melbourne, Australia.

Six delegates to that conference as well as many participants were amongst those killed on Thursday in the Malaysian Airlines crash over Ukraine.

The international conference was preceded by a meeting, on the theme, 'Stepping up in faith’ which brought together Catholic experts from around the world in the fields of prevention, diagnosis and care of those living with HIV and AIDS.

As monsignor Robert Vitillo, special advisor on HIV-AIDS for the global aid and development confederation Caritas Internationalis told Vatican Radio's Linda Bordoni, a Mass had already been organized for the end of the pre-Conference, but when news was received of the disaster, the President of Caritas Australia, Archbishop Philip Wilson, suggested that a wider group of people be welcomed than originally planned for.

Listen to the interview... 

Monsignor Vitillo says that amongst those who died on their way to the conference, the person who would be the most well-known worldwide for his work as a scientist and researcher in the field of HIV-Aids is Doctor Joep Lange, the former president of the International AIDS Society.
"He was very involved in Aids research and was at UN-Aids in Geneva last week as he was to help design a new strategy for treatment of people living with HIV and Aids. It was a very deep loss for the scientific community".

Vitillo speaks of the just ended Catholic 'pre-conference' which he says was an occasion for "our people to come together to reflect on our Church's teachings - both its moral and social teachings - which provide the background and the framework of the service we offer to people living with HIV-Aids.
    
He speaks of the participation of Catholics from across the globe who offered their testimonies of the diverse realities across the world.

Vitillo also goes on to speak of the contribution of Catholics to the just-started main conference. He speaks of his experience as an advisor to UN-Aids and in the strategy regarding the prevention of mother-to-child infection.

After 27 years of experience when Caritas Internationalis chose this issue as a priority, Vitillo speaks of the progress made during these years and of how the approach of those who work with patients has changed together with evolving scenarios in the fields of medicine and research.

Finally, monsignor Vitillo speaks of the lasting legacy of the late Doctor Lange whom he said "would not have wanted the conference to be cancelled, what he would have wanted is that the best knowledge and the best information continue to be shared in the fight against the global emergency in the search for a cure or an effective vaccine, and in the meantime get more people on treatment to keep them healthier".

Regarding the loss of Joep Lange and others committed to the fight against HIV-Aids, Vitillo said: "We need to redouble our efforts, given this loss of scientific expertise and community-based expertise and knowledge. We have to work extra hard to make sure that what Joep and others were working for may become a reality". 
 








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