Durban Declaration

Not to be confused with The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

The Durban Declaration is a statement signed by over 5,000 physicians and scientists in 2000, affirming that HIV is the cause of AIDS, seventeen years after the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.[1] The declaration was drafted in response to HIV/AIDS denialism, and particularly to address South African president Thabo Mbeki's support for AIDS denialists.[2] It was written several weeks before the 2000 International AIDS Conference, held in Durban, South Africa from July 9 to 14, 2000, and was published in the journal Nature to coincide with the Durban conference. The declaration called the evidence that HIV causes AIDS "clear-cut, exhaustive and unambiguous".[3]

Each person who signed the document was required to have a Ph.D. or M.D.-equivalent degree. To avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, scientists "working for commercial companies were asked not to sign." The signatories included eleven Nobel prize winners.[3]

  1. ^ "The Durban Declaration". Nature. 406 (6791): 15–16. 2000. doi:10.1038/35017662. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 10894520. S2CID 205007392.
  2. ^ Aiken, Jonathan (2000-07-01). "International scientists, doctors reaffirm HIV causes AIDS". CNN. Archived from the original on 2013-01-19. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  3. ^ a b "The Durban Declaration". Nature. 406 (6791): 15–6. 2000. doi:10.1038/35017662. PMID 10894520. S2CID 205007392.