US Hosting 2012 Global AIDS Conference

During her speech condemning international homophobia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also announced the United States would host the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

Ambassador Eric Goosby, who is the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, called the decision momentous, as the country has recently lifted its ban on HIV-positive travelers and immigrants.

"Hosting the International AIDS Conference in the United States is an important opportunity for the United States," Goosby wrote Monday in the White House's blog. "This event draws scientists, policy makers, program officials, HIV-positive individuals and others from all over the world. ... Welcoming conference attendees to our Nation's capital will allow America to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to ending the HIV pandemic both in the United States and around the world. Given that the conference is fundamentally a research conference, holding this event in such close proximity to the National Institutes of Health and other U.S. Government research facilities will also, hopefully, expand the level of scientific discourse between our scientists and researchers from around the world."

The conference attracts about 25,000 participants and 3,000 members of the media on average.

Goosby said that the conference being held in the nation's capital will allow the country to showcase its National HIV/AIDS Strategy "for the first time in our nation's history."

The 2010 conference will be held in Vienna.