History
The society was founded in 1989 at the fourth International Symposium on AIDS and Associated Cancers in Africa meeting (now ICASA) which held in Marseille France. The society was founded in response to the agitations by the African organizers for the conference which had until then been holding across continents to be sited and organized in Africa, these agitations had begun the previous year (1988) at the third meeting in Arusha, Tanzania.
Peter Piot the executive director of UNAIDS, who was at the meeting supported the cause of the African Scientists and spoke in their favour. At the 1990 conference which held in DR Congo, an executive committee was established to oversee the establishment of the society and to coordinate subsequent ICASA meetings. The society was officially registered at Nairobi, Kenya.

Vision
The society envisions an African continent where people are able to live full, healthy and productive lives free of HIV/AIDS and its debilitating effects on our communal and societal structures, and an Africa where her people are adequately socially and economically empowered and are able to achieve their full potentials as human beings.

Mission
The society's mission is to promote policies and research to support individual government's national response to the epidsemic in the continent.

Our Goal
The overall goal of the society is to decrease the spread and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS and other STIs in the African continent, through various activities.