Chris Beyrer (pictured left) of Johns Hopkins University became new President of the International AIDS Society as the 20th International AIDS Conference closed in Melbourne on 25 July 2014. Dr Beyrer took over from outgoing President Françoise Barré-Sinoussi. AIDS 2016 will be held in Durban, South Africa from 17-22 July 2016.

John Manwaring (left) and V. Banda address the AIDS 2014 Conference closing ceremony. Mr Manwaring, an Australian person living with HIV, said: “If the past has taught us anything, it's that silence equals death. We do need to speak up. We are more powerful than we know it. It doesn't require any special talent. It requires one simple thing—honesty.” Melbourne, Australia, 25 July 2014.

The local Co-Chair of the Conference, Australia’s Prof. Sharon Lewin, called for increased support and cooperation. “This week, we have heard of all the great progress but that there is still much work to be done. In order for us to change an epidemic to low level infection, we need an individualised approach to address key hot spots; we need a strong focus on specific geographic areas and key affected populations that continue to experience the highest numbers of infections. We need to recognise that one size will not fit all in our response. Now more than ever we need an increase in funding to do it. Now is not the time to slacken the pace.” Closing ceremony, AIDS 2014 Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 25 July 2014.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures co-chaired the session Gay and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: Prevention within an Accelerating Epidemic with Dede Oetomo at the AIDS 2014 Conference in Melbourne, Australia, 24 July 2014. The panel members are Colin Stewart Brown, Ibrahim Suleiman, Kelika A. Konda, Sarika Pattanasin and Colleen Hoff.

A Conversation with Sir Bob Geldof: HIV and Poverty – the Challenges Ahead at the AIDS 2014 Conference in Melbourne, Australia, 24 July 2014.

"Achieving the end of AIDS is upon us. It'd be disgraceful not to fund the last mile" —Sir Bob Geldof. Melbourne, Australia, 24 July 2014.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures and Lambert Grijns, Dutch Ambassador for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and HIV/AIDS at the Dutch satellite event Bridging the Gaps, organised in memory of lost colleague Martine de Schutter.

Antonius Johannes Jozef Coenen speaks at the Dutch satellite event Bridging the Gaps, organised in memory of lost colleague Martine de Schutter. Melbourne, 24 July 2014.

Young empowered women. There remain serious challenges in reaching the world’s adolescents with HIV, sexual and reproductive health and harm reduction services. Melbourne, Australia, 23 July 2014.

President Bill Clinton addressing a special session of the AIDS 2014 conference entitled Put Patient's Health First to Improve Outcomes and Programme Efficiency. Melbourne, 23 July 2014.

Female sex worker. AIDS 2014 conference, Melbourne, 23 July 2014.

All In for Adolescents roundtable. Melbourne, 23 July 2014.

Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS with women from the Women Living with HIV Speak Out meeting during the AIDS 2014 Conference. Melbourne, 22 July 2014.

Jan Beagle, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS talking at Meet the Leaders: UN Leaders Meet Communities during the AIDS 2014 Conference. Melbourne, 22 July 2014.

Candlelight vigil at Federation Square as part of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 22 July 2014.

John Rock, Lwendo Mbulo and Stephen Watiti at the Global Village panel discussion Twenty Plus Positives Dialogues: People Who Have Lived with HIV for 20 Years or More during the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne on 22 July 2014.

Lancet editor Richard Horton; IHME Director Professor Christopher Murray; Deborah Birx, M.D., U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator; UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at the IHME/UNAIDS/Lancet launch event at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne Australia, 22 July 2014.

"At UNDP, we believe that laws grounded in human rights are essential in preventing HIV. It is essential to remove punitive laws in order to end this epidemic." —Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme, during the meeting entitled No One Left Behind: Stepping up the Pace on the Removal of Punitive Laws to Advance Human Rights and Gender Equality. Melbourne, Australia, 21 July 2014.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures at an AIDS 2014 Conference youth event with UNESCO at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne, 21 July 2014.

Harnessing the power and reach of the media to challenge HIV-related stigma and discrimination and champion human rights has long been a goal of the AIDS response. At this week’s 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, UNAIDS and the Pulitzer Centre co-hosted an event to explore exactly how this can be done.

Harnessing the power and reach of the media to challenge HIV-related stigma and discrimination and champion human rights has long been a goal of the AIDS response. At this week’s 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, UNAIDS and the Pulitzer Centre co-hosted an event to explore exactly how this can be done.

Harnessing the power and reach of the media to challenge HIV-related stigma and discrimination and champion human rights has long been a goal of the AIDS response. At this week’s 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, UNAIDS and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting cohosted an event to explore exactly how this can be done.

Harnessing the power and reach of the media to challenge HIV-related stigma and discrimination and champion human rights has long been a goal of the AIDS response. At this week’s 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, UNAIDS and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting cohosted an event to explore exactly how this can be done.

Red Ribbon Award winners with panel members. Melbourne, Australia, 21 July 2014.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé with Hon Roma Ambrose, Minister of Health of Canada at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 21 July 2014.

“Ending AIDS by 2030 will require keeping HIV high on the post-2015 development agenda, and the active engagement of all stakeholders, including the private sector.” —Jan Beagle, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director

A satellite event on 21 July at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia, explored how public–private partnerships are leveraged in the response to HIV in Papua New Guinea.

An AIDS 2014 delegate shows his support for reducing the global burden of HIV and TB.

Opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 20 July 2014.

"Ending AIDS is an opportunity for this generation. We should not miss it. It could be the biggest victory of this century." —UNAIDS Executrive Director Michel Sidibé

Opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 20 July 2014.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé speaking at the opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 20 July 2014.

Opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 20 July 2014.

Opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 20 July 2014.

Opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne, Australia, 20 July 2014.

Participants at the Cities for Social Transformation Towards Ending AIDS meeting during the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne on 20 July 2014. Credit: UNAIDS/M.Fairclough

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé at the Cities for Social Transformation Towards Ending AIDS meeting during the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne on 20 July 2014. Credit: UNAIDS/M.Fairclough

The Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS 2011–2015, adopted by World Health Organization Member States in 2011, provides an ambitious framework for the health sector response to HIV.

The Global Health Sector Strategy on HIV/AIDS 2011–2015, adopted by World Health Organization Member States in 2011, provides an ambitious framework for the health sector response to HIV. 

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures speaking at the Global Partners Forum on Children and HIV and AIDS meeting in Melbourne on 20 July 2014. Credit: UNAIDS/M.Fairclough

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé standing with participants of an AIDS 2014 preconference event in Melbourne, 19 July 2014.

The two-day Global Forum on MSM and HIV, being held on 19 and 20 July under the theme “Setting the pace”, brings together activists, advocates, researchers, policy-makers and representatives of global donors and multilateral organizations, including UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.

The vital role that a vibrant civil society plays in strengthening and deepening the AIDS response at the national, regional and global levels was recognized and championed by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé during an informal consultation at AIDS 2014 called Working Together to End the AIDS Epidemic and Leave No One Behind.

The passion, dedication and commitment that young people are bringing to the AIDS response, driving the agenda and taking a leadership role, were celebrated by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé in closing remarks at the AIDS 2014 youth preconference event.

Faith-based organizations from around the world came together on the eve of the 20th International AIDS Conference, to be held in Melbourne, Australia, to call for a renewed commitment to strengthening the global AIDS response.

During the interfaith preconference event, Stepping up in Faith, which took place on 18 and 19 July, more than a hundred religious leaders, people of faith living with and affected by HIV, representatives of key populations, young people, advocates and activists explored the role that faith-based organizations can play in strengthening the response. Joining them were UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures and United States Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Deborah Birx. 

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé speaks at the lighting of the AIDS2014 sign on the Princes Bridge in Melbourne, Australia, 18 July 2014.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine; Victorian Minister for Health David Davis; UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé; YEAH CEO Alischa Ross; Co-Chair of AIDS2014 Sharon Lewin; Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle at the lighting of the AIDS2014 sign on the Princes Bridge in Melbourne Australia, 18 July 2014.

The AIDS 2014 sign on the Princes Bridge in Melbourne Australia, 18 July 2014.