kaisernetwork.org managing editor Jill Braden Balderas reports on the daily highlights from the XVII International AIDS Conference, Monday, August 4 - Friday, August 8, in Mexico City.

This Daily Roundup features speaker highlights from the last day of the conference.

Experts today at the XVII International AIDS conference discussed the complementary nature of improving health systems in developing countries and broadening access to HIV prevention and treatment. They called for collaboration in expanding primary care as well as HIV/AIDS care. Gregg Gonsalves of the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa gave the expansion of access to antiretroviral treatment as an example.

Participants at the XVII International AIDS Conference today heard about the future of the epidemic from a variety of perspectives. According to Anthony Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, research possibilities are "bright and promising." "However, here we are in Mexico City still in the middle of a raging pandemic," said Fauci. "To be sure there are multiple and daunting challenges ahead in terms of how we confront HIV globally. Not all but certainly some of these challenges can only be addressed through biomedical research."

Today the XVII International AIDS Conference focused its attention on methods for preventing HIV infection. With an effective vaccine years away and other tools like microbicides and Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) still being researched, bringing together stakeholders is of vital importance.

At the XVII International AIDS conference in Mexico City, more than 25,000 scientists, advocates as well as community and political leaders gathered under the theme of "Universal Action Now."