Toronto AIDS Conference

The 16th International AIDS Conference takes place in Toronto, Canada. The conference is marked by condemnation of the abstinence approach to HIV prevention. Activists, civil society organisations, billionaire philanthropists and even ex-Presidents voice doubts about this approach – championed by the US President George W Bush through the PEPFAR initiative. A third of PEPFAR funding is earmarked for abstinence programmes and some delegates suggest that in some places the approach was, in fact, leading to increased HIV infections.