The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world’s leading independent association of HIV professionals. Founded in 1988, the IAS speaks as an independent voice for global action to end the AIDS pandemic. The IAS has a membership of more than 11,000 individuals from 175 countries working at every level and in every setting of the global response to HIV/AIDS.

The IAS is the custodian and lead organizer of the International AIDS Conference, and also organizes the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention. This conference focuses on the biomedical aspects of HIV/AIDS. It brings together individuals and organizations from around the world to address current issues in HIV basic, clinical and prevention science.

The Society is finding innovative ways to leverage the knowledge, experience and influence of our members to advocate for the policy changes and political commitments necessary to end the AIDS epidemic. Addressing the critical shortage of health workers, integrating HIV care with the treatment of co-infections such as TB, promoting an evidence-based approach to effective treatment and prevention scale-up, combating discrimination against people living with HIV, promoting the rights of groups vulnerable to HIV infection and strengthening the scientific response to the epidemic are key themes of the IAS’ policy and advocacy activities.

The two main initiatives of the IAS are the Industry Liaison Forum (ILF) and the eJournal of the International AIDS Society (eJIAS). The mission of the ILF is to remove barriers to research investment by the pharmaceutical industry in resource-limited settings. The forum promotes scientific and intellectual networking between research-based pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies and encourages the active contribution of independent investigators from both developed and developing countries. eJIAS is a MEDLINE-indexed, peer-reviewed, online journal. The journal’s mission is to support, promote and disseminate high-quality HIV/AIDS research relevant to resource-limited settings.

The IAS provides professional development and training opportunities for HIV professionals at both international and regional AIDS conferences through its education programme.  In addition, IAS rewards excellence in research for young investigators through a number of dedicated prizes. 

The IAS is increasingly working with regional AIDS societies and networks to strengthen the capacity of HIV professionals to respond to the epidemic at the regional level. This includes carrying out joint activities with regional HIV/ AIDS networks and sharing technical expertise in organizing and running successful AIDS conferences. At the same time, efforts have been made to link regional AIDS conferences with one another and with the IAS conferences at global level.