U.S. to host International AIDS Conference in 2012

A red ribbon hangs in advance of World AIDS Day on the front of the White House in Washington, November 29, 2009. World AIDS Day will be commemorated on December 1.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The 2012 International AIDS Conference will be held in the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Monday.

"I'm pleased to announce that, with the repeal of the ban, the International AIDS Society will hold the 2012 international AIDS conference in Washington DC," Clinton said on the eve of World AIDS Day.

"This conference will draw together 30,000 researchers, scientists, policy makers, health care providers, activists and others from around the world," Clinton said at the White House.

"On World AIDS Day, let us renew our commitment to ensuring that those infected and affected by HIV ... that all those who have joined together to fight this pandemic will someday live in a world where HIV/AIDS can be prevented and treated as a disease of the past," Clinton said.

Cape Town, a city of South Africa, hosted the 2009 conference in July. And Vienna was selected to undertake the 2011 International AIDS Conference.

The Obama administration will lift a 22-year-old entry ban on HIV-positive visitors in 2010, in an effort to ensure access for all who need effective outreach and treatment and to combat discrimination more broadly.

It will next year increase financing to prevent mothers from transmitting the HIV virus to their children.

(Source: Agencies)