More than 100 delegates and family members of the 20th International AIDS Conference were on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. These people were important. They were the folks figuring out how to win the war against AIDS. One of them, Joep Lange, was a pioneer in research of the disease.

He always had fresh views and a unique take on things and would never accept that something was impossible to achieve.


He was an amazing researcher. How do we measure how much a person has done for humanity? People like Joep change the course of epidemics.”


He had been involved in the research and treatment since 1983 and worked on pivotal trials in antiretroviral therapy and on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.


Others on the plane were researchers and AIDS activists who had all contributed tremendously to the medical community and to the rest of the world by creating and managing programs to stop the spread of the disease.

A huge blow to the world.