EACCME Accreditation
We are pleased to inform you that STI & HIV 2021 World Congress has been accreditated by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®) with 18 CME credits.
14.07.2021 – 6 credits
15.07.2021 – 3 credits
16.07.2021 – 6 credits
17.07.2021 – 3 credits

From our official conference @STI_BMJ Journal! “Sexual Diversity and the City” is the theme of this “very special edition” of the @stihiv2021 world congress. People from all walks of life are welcomed and some being able to participate for free!
Warm Welcome
Welcome to the STI & HIV 2021 World Congress to be held virtually from 14 to 17 July 2021! This bi-annual meeting dedicated to STI in its broadest sense will be organised by the International Society for STD Research (ISSTDR) in collaboration with the International Union against STI World (IUSTI World), just like earlier editions.
Sexual diversity and the city
“Sexual diversity and the city” is this year’s theme and our mission is to address diversity, health and sexuality in the urban context. Why? Over 60% of the current world population live in urbanised settings, places where a large portion of the STI epidemic is also focused. At the same time, urban environments offer networks, infrastructures, multidisciplinarity and creativity from which solutions can emerge. Cities can act as giant outdoor labs, experimental sites, research incubators and ideal environments for the implementation of interventions.

We try to reach out using special techniques
As scientists working in the field of STI we are often confronted with key populations such as sex workers, migrants, men who have sex with men and transgender persons. We try to reach out using special techniques such as snowball sampling or respondent driven sampling. Often, we fail in our attempts and refer to these groups as “hard to reach populations”. What we often do not realise is that we ourselves might be “hard to reach”.
The big challenge for future STI research will be to involve communities, practitioners and healthcare workers in our research. We need to get out of our ivory towers and abandon top down approaches. Whether it involves neat in vitrowork, randomised trials or mathematical models. To address the needs of those affected by STI and their medical caretakers, their involvement is required, not as a final step but from the design phase of our projects. This is an imperative to successfully implement results from a research environment to daily life.
Given the uncertain circumstances in the current Covid-19 pandemic the conference will be held virtual.Moreover, we strive for community engagement and the involvement of local artists to bring their unique view to the international STI and HIV audience.
Please follow us on Twitter @stihiv2021 and #sexualdiversityandthecity
On behalf of the organising committee,
Henry de Vries
President of the International Society for STD Research (ISSTDR)
and
Janet Wilson
President of the International Union against STI (IUSTI)
We need to get out of our ivory towers and involve communities in our approach
Henry de Vries
Congress President

Important dates
8 February 2021 | Abstract submission deadline |
22 March 2021 | Notification accepting/rejecting abstracts |
22 March 2021 | Late breaking abstract submission deadline |
05 April 2021 | Notification accepting/rejecting late breaking abstracts |
05 April 2021 | Deadline early registration fee |
24 May 2021 | Deadline regular registration fee |
