DAKAR, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) - A biennial international conference on AIDS in Africa which had been slated for December in Gabon has been moved to next year and the venue shifted to Senegal due to logistical hitches, organisers have said.
The International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), has been rescheduled to December 8 through 11, 2008, the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA), an independent association of African HIV professionals said.
"This decision was taken ... after it became clear that it would be impossible to hold the ICASA in Gabon owing to logistical problems that could not be overcome by December 2007," said SAA which is organising the symposium, in a notice posted on its website.
It will be the second time since 1991 that Senegal hosts the ICASA, a forum created by a group of African scientists, to thrash out ways to manage and reverse the impact of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) on the continent.
Although sub-Saharan Africa is home to just over 10 percent of the world's population, it is the most ravaged by HIV, carrying more than 60 percent of all people living with HIV or around 25.8 million people, according to UNAIDS.
More than 5,000 delegates are expected to turn out for next year's forum in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
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