30 November 2011, ADDIS ABABA – ICASA 2011 preconference activities will take place from 01 to 03 December 2011. The pre- conference activities include: World AIDS Day, Youth Conference and Rally, Pan African Christian AIDS Network Conference, Faith Based Organizations Conference and a Conference on HIV and Aging. These preconference activities organized by the community arm of the ICASA 2011 will serve as forums to discussing issues that will be deliberated on during the actual 16th International Conference on AIDS and STIs from 04 to 08 December 2011.

World AIDS Day takes place on 1st of December each year, and serves as an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the HIV and AIDS response. This year, the day will be marked under the theme 'Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infection, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths.' ICASA takes active role in the F-HAPCO and Partners Organized event.

Youth pre-conference will be held from 01 to 03 December 2011 under the theme: 'Empower young people to maximize the learning from the conference to inform their HIV/AIDS and STI related activities.' This exercise gives an opportunity for the youth within Africa and in the Diaspora to come together to mobilize activities for youth attending the 16th ICASA. With a similar purpose, ICASA 2011 Youth rally will be held under the theme: 'Active Youth Participation at all levels in decision making on HIV/AIDS and STIs' on 03 December 2011.

Pan African Christian AIDS Network preconference will be hosted on under the theme: 'Churches perspective on ownership, scaling-up and sustainability of HIV and AIDS responses'. This conference takes place in a bid to explore the issues that will be deliberated during the conference from a Christian perspective.

Preconference on HIV and Aging will take place from 01-02 December 2011 under the theme: 'Empowering older people to claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty so that they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives.' This is intended to highlight the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on older people, to address the widespread neglect of older people in HIV policy and programming, and develop recommendations for effective response to older people affected by HIV.

Faith Based Organizations Preconference will take place on 03 December 2011 under the theme 'Advance religious communities' commitment to own, scale up and sustain their responses to HIV and AIDS.'

These preconference activities are expected to bring together policymakers, program implementers, academics, people living with HIV and AIDS and other interest groups to impart experiences and knowledge. Key issues deliberated and debated are also expected to be shared and addressed in the 16th ICASA, which will happen shortly from 4-8 December, 2011 under the theme "OWN, SCALE-UP & SUSTAIN".