AIDS: The 2nd International Conference on Health and Human Rights held in 1996 explored the issue of human rights and public health advocacy in light of the AIDS pandemic. Speakers addressed the pervasive personal and institutional racism within the United States (known as structural violence) that hinders minority health status and health care. Poverty and its relationship to women's risk of HIV infection are viewed as one of the most significant manifestations of structural violence for those in the field of HIV/AIDS. Other speakers addressed the destruction of urban habitats and the effect of this destruction on urban society and health, and how social class can affect health care delivery, access, and mortality.