(The date of the 4th edition of the International Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul has been updated as 4-5 March 2025. Please read the update and call for co-operation note.)
The fourth edition of the International Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul2025, also the first civil society/activist conference in any medical field in Türkiye, will be held as a hybrid (physical and online) event between October 4 and 5, 2025.
Red Ribbon Istanbul calls on all natural stakeholders to collaborate for the conference, which will focus on exploring the barriers to community leadership in the global common HIV response and ways to enable more effective leadership in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) regions.
Details below.
Red Ribbon Istanbul
Edited by: Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul2024 Team
Publication date: 10 September, 2025
The fourth edition of the International Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul2025, the first of its kind in Türkiye's nearly 40 years of HIV history, will be held as a hybrid (online and physical) event between 3-5 October, organized by #RedRibbonIstanbul, a provider and source of HIV Information for all which has implemented many firsts and innovative projects since 2016.
#HIVIstanbul2025, organized by Red Ribbon Istanbul with the support of volunteers and essential local, regional, and international support, aims to create an even more inclusive agenda in its fourth year with the international visibility and vision it has added in 2022 and 2023 to its success in 2021, the first year of implementation. It aims for a much broader participation and high international impact this year.
#HIVIstanbul was held with the theme "HIV will lose" in 2021, "Civil Society has the answer” in 2022, and "Are we really equal?" in 2023. In line with the global agenda, #HIVIstanbul aims to discuss the barriers to community leadership in the global common HIV response and ways to enable a more effective leadership by centering on Türkiye and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) regions.
- Call for co-operation -
The conference emphasized its vision in its first year, its mission in its second year on who is the leading actor in achieving this goal, and the need for joint action by drawing attention to regional disparities in the global HIV response in its third year will transform into a truly international platform by covering much broader geography in the 2024 edition. --- You can access the International Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul2022 booklet and videos here. ---
#HIVIstanbul2024 will bring to the attention of the international HIV community by discussing the factors that make it difficult for the community to produce a more effective HIV response in Istanbul, the meeting point of continents and cultures.
If you want to plan a session as an NGO / Initiative / Platform, etc., or if you would like to moderate a session as an individual activist in #HIVIstanbul2025, which will include world-renowned scientists and successful activists from Türkiye, the region and the world who have created significant changes in the field of HIV and HIV-positive friendly, activist-spirited physicians who always work closely with the community, please write an e-mail to conference@kirmizikurdele.org with the title "cooperation"
Scholarship application, registration information, agenda, and other logistical information for people living with HIV and activists for the International Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul2024 will be announced in the summer of 2024. Please follow the social media accounts @redribbontr for all updates.
- Goals of the International Civil Society HIV Conference #HIVIstanbul;
- To create a space for Türkiye's HIV civil society to produce a response to HIV as a whole around a common idea,
- To support Türkiye's HIV civil society to play an active role in the international HIV arena, as required by Türkiye's unique geographical location, by contacting all local communities and the regions it interacts with,
- To make a broad basis for discussion and cooperation to create a common strategy for the local community in line with UNAIDS 95-95-95 objectives, producing common strategies and action plans that will shape their operations to deliver solutions,
- To expand the production of social HIV science across the region, especially by encouraging CSOs working indirectly on HIV and operating in local areas to conduct measurements focusing on social issues and problem areas,
- To increase the international visibility of Türkiye's HIV civil society as a whole through a regional and international inclusive conference agenda and enabling new regional and international collaborations,
- To set an example for different problem areas / civil society work areas with the image of unity at the national level, the success story of HIV civil society is conveyed to all stakeholders and interlocutors, especially the public, in the best way possible.
