Local Groups Heading To DC For International AIDS Conference

By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - For the first time in 22 years, the International AIDS Conference is being held in the United States. Leaders from the worlds of science, diplomacy, politics, philanthropy and entertainment will be speaking at this week's conference going on in Washington DC. Hundreds of Philly AIDS activists will be heading there on buses tomorrow morning to participate in a street mobilization of people living with HIV/AIDS.

About 500 people from this area are expected to join an estimated 8,000 marchers in Washington DC, demanding an end to AIDS.

Val Sowell, an organizer with ACT UP of Philadelphia says, "We are all bringing props that represent different ways we can end AIDS. So, some people will be bringing in pill bottles, some people will be bringing condoms, some people will be bringing in bills or fake bills. All of these represent what it really is going to take to end AIDS."

The We Can End AIDS mobilization will consist of five separate marches. For more information, go to WeCanEndAIDS.org/

Buses will leave at 7 a.m. Tuesday from Broad and Walnut. To make a bus reservation, click here.

For information on ACT UP, click here.