The Public Hospital Institute, Berkeley, Calif. and the Hospital Research Educational Trust, Chicago, organized and held six National HIV/AIDS Update Conferences between 1991 and 1998.

The National HIV/AIDS Update Conferences were instituted in order to assist a broad range of health and social service providers and consumers from around the country in meeting the continuing challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The conferences gave health care providers an opportunity to discuss strategies on how to meet the special challenges the AIDS epidemic poses.

Key Results

• The conferences gained national as well as local press coverage and attracted national-level speakers, including two directors of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy as well as directors of the National Minority AIDS Council and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of HIV/AIDS Policy.
• Attendance at these conferences exceeded expectations, averaging more than 2,250 people representing more than 170 HIV/AIDS organizations.
• The conferences contributed to the dissemination of information concerning HIV/AIDS to thousands of health and social service providers and persons living with HIV, informing them of new research and emerging knowledge about the epidemic.

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided partial support to this project with three grants to the Public Hospital Institute totaling $105,000 between March 1991 and November 1993 and three grants to the Hospital Research and Educational Trust.