15,000 attend global Aids conference in Amsterdam

The Netherlands has earmarked €10m for a special fund which works to make hiv prevention and drugs more accessible to vulnerable groups, Dutch aid minister Sigrid Kaag told a major Aids conference in Amsterdam on Monday evening. 

Over 15,000 politicians, policymakers, researchers and activists from more than 160 countries are attending the conference at the Rai exhibition centre which runs until Friday. 

‘There has been progress, but hiv continues to spread,’ Kaag told delegates. ‘We still haven’t managed to achieve hiv prevention on a large scale and to offer treatment to 15 million people with Aids.’

In total this year, the Netherlands will spend around €430m to better protect the sexual and reproductive rights of women, men and young people in developing countries, the minister said. 

The extra funding for Aids and hiv will be focused on men who have sex with men, drug users, transgender people, young people and sex workers who are most vulnerable, Kaag said. 

Celebrities A number of prominent campaigners, including Britain’s prince Harry and the Netherland’s princess Mabel, are at the conference and former US president Bill Clinton is also expected to attend. Harry was in Amsterdam on Monday evening as representative of his own foundation Sentebale, which focuses on children in Africa with hiv.

Source: DutchNews