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Melbourne. — A six-day world forum on Aids got underway yesterday to tributes to six campaigners killed on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and renewed vows to crush a disease that has claimed twice as many lives as World War I.
Thousands of delegates at the 20th International Aids Conference in Melbourne stood for a minute’s silence in honour of six colleagues who had been aboard the plane.
They included Joep Lange, a Dutch scientist who had played a frontline role in the 33-year war on Aids.

“Let our silence represent our sadness, our anger and our solidarity,” said French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who co-won the Nobel Prize for helping to discover the virus that causes AIDS.

Australian researcher Sharon Lewin, a leading expert in the search for a cure for HIV, said the tight-knit Aids community had been deeply shocked by the loss of Lange and his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren, a prominent grassroots campaigner.

“I know they would want us all to continue the great work they were both so passionate about — seeing an end to HIV,” said Lewin, who is co-chairing the conference with Barre-Sinoussi.

Hundreds of delegates tied tiny red ribbons — the symbol of the fight against Aids — to panels of remembrance or signed books of condolence.
A candlelit vigil is to be held in the city’s Federation Square tomorrow night. Around 12 000 researchers, policy makers, workers and activists are expected to attend the event, which is held every two years. — AFP.