In the weeks leading up to the 16^th annual conference of the International AIDS Society, to be held this year in Toronto, Canada from August 13-18, Rewire will from time to time be looking at issues related to the conference.

The Toronto Star has begun covering some of those issues as well, and today, they profile issues of censorship and misinformation promoted by the Bush Administration in the fight against HIV/AIDS. No surprises here perhaps, but the Bush Administration has attempted to limit the number of NIH and CDC employees attending the conference to 50 people, when there could potentially be hundreds from those organizations who would want to join the 26,000 other attendees from around the world.

Why keep America’s top AIDS scientists at home? It could be because a large number of those researchers and scientists might argue that their research does not support some Administration policies for HIV prevention and treatment… So in their stead, the Administration is sending a small handful from its top research institutions – most of them bureaucrats – who will offer support for Administration policies (regardless of the evidence against them).

But while this group might have been carefully crafted to take their stand in spite of evidence, roughly 100 advocates from the Caucus for Evidence-Based Prevention will be there to call them to account. Headed by amFAR, Population Action International, and SIECUS, the Caucus is made up of representatives from almost 40 HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations. Together, Caucus members will act as watchdogs and as educators at the conference. They will be calling attention to presentations where ideology trumps science – making sure the public sees the motivations behind these presentations – and they will be educating people about the diverse technologies and research that are offering hope for preventing HIV beyond simple abstinence education.

During the conference, we will be featuring daily blogging from several experts in the field, including from the Caucus. Make sure to check in at Rewire on a daily basis during the conference for the latest on conference events and for expert commentary (August 13-18)! And if you want to make sure you don’t miss a beat, consider signing up now for our RSS feeds – get our blog headlines delivered right to your computer.