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Global access to HIV/AIDS treatment was the universal theme as more than 12,700 participants gathered for the opening of the 12^th World AIDS Conference.

Guy-Olivier Second of the Republic of Geneva recalled his community’s early response to the epidemic, noting that HIV/AIDS is far more than a medical issue. "Today, 90% of people with AIDS live in the South. Today, 90% of people with AIDS do not have access to available therapy," he said.

"What is the international community doing about this?" he asked. "What are drug manufacturers doing for those who cannot afford treatment? What is the North doing for the South? Before the judgment of history, are we not guilty of non-assistance to people in danger?"

Swiss Health Minister Ruth Dreifuss described her country’s contributions to the breakthroughs in AIDS therapy that have swept the North over the past three years, but stressed that targeted prevention efforts cannot be set aside. In particular, she highlighted Switzerland’s successful experience with no-threshold needle exchange programmes for injecting drug users.

Dreifuss called for partnership between the fields of prevention, treatment, biomedical research and behavioural science. "A condom a day keeps the doctor away," she said, quoting a billboard that is omnipresent at the Palexpo site. "This is the only opposition between prevention and the medical community that is acceptable."

Community Planning Chair Robin Gorna stressed that "community mobilisation and action have released the political will and the funds to pay for research, treatment, education and care.. At this Conference, "we’re beginning to see real hope that we can raise the standard of available care and get drugs into bodies."

The Opening Ceremony was interrupted mid-way by ACT-UP members, carrying a banner that read AIDS: The World Is Burning. Koua Desiré N’Dah, an activist from Côte d’Ivoire, noted that "the majority who are sick have no access to treatment -- not even the simplest and cheapest medications are available." Politicians promised six months ago to free up funding for treatment in the South, amid calls for the formation of an African solidarity fund. But "today, the money still isn’t there."

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