Ethiopia counts down to host 16th ICASA

‎ (CapitalEthiopia)Only 100 days remain for Ethiopia until it hosts the sixteenth International Conference on AIDS and STI (Sexually Transmitted infections) in Africa (ICASA) which is planned to take place between the fourth and eighth of December this year. The global gathering which is the biggest of its kind in the history of Addis Ababa is expected to bring together 10 thousand delegates consisting of politicians, scientists, activists, and also people living with HIV/AIDS.

As the big occasion approaches the more the authorities are becoming concerned about working together to achieve a smooth operation and conclusion. Ethiopia can potentially benefit in terms of boosting its image and increasing confidence in conference tourism in the long run. So far, the Ethiopian authorities have been aggressively assessing the areas of accommodation, transportation, tourism and communication.

Until now, about 127 standard hotels and guest houses have been identified as places to be assessed for quality and efficiency. Out of the total, 75 of them with the capacity to host 1,900 delegates have already agreed to block their rooms for conference attendees. Addis Ababa has the capacity to host about five thousand delegates within the tourist class accommodations. Attendees are expected to be accommodated by those hotels and lodges in the nearby towns surrounding Addis Ababa within a 100 kilometer radius. There is also a plan to make use of government owned guest houses like that of Addis Ababa University’s training facility in Akaki.

About 2,900 abstracts in the area of science, leadership and community have already been submitted for the upcoming conference. Out of the total, about 800 abstracts are expected to be covered in the five day long conference. More than four thousand delegates from 160 countries have already registered so far to participate in the much anticipated conference.

The ‘Marathon Meeting’, a pre-conference meeting of stakeholders, will decide upon which abstracts will be presented how the conference will progress, and who should be entitled for a scholarship is currently underway as of last Friday. The meeting is scheduled to conclude this Monday. So far, the secretariat of the conference has organized a consultative meeting and a training session for members of the media, and hospitality business managers in a bid to ensure that the gathering succeeds both locally and internationally.

The event will take place in the Millennium Hall. Ethiopia’s international business tycoon, Sheik Mohammed Al Amoudi, has allotted 1.6 million dollar to help prepare the hall for the event.

The conference is the 16th in a series of conferences that have focused on AIDS in Africa for the past 25 years. It aims at putting all the necessary pressure upon the concerned bodies that deal with the disease so that they might perform more effectively with increased determination in sharing new scientific knowledge and practices. The conference aspires to create a debate about the most effective responses from leaders in governments, non-governmental organizations, private business entities, communities and from the very people living with HIV/ADIS. It also has the objective of identifying priority areas that need proper strategy, programs and policy responses to mitigate the aids scourge.