Renewing a focus on prevention in U.S. Global AIDS Policy.

The worlds response to the AIDS pandemic is now at a crossroads. In recent years the global community-stimulated by the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the World Health Organizations (WHOs) "3 by 5 Initiative"-has responded with an appropriate sense of urgency that has driven the rapid expansion of treatment services worldwide. Yet even as life-saving drugs become more widely available the rate of new HIV infections continues to climb outpacing the capacity to treat people living with HIV and threatening the whole AIDS response. Faced with this stark reality leaders in the global AIDS community are calling for a paradigm shift in thinking about AIDS-from a short-term emergency to a long-term challenge requiring sustained effort. In large part this means renewing a focus on HIV prevention. In recent years the lions share of resources for AIDS has been committed to services for people living with HIV. With nearly three million people each year still losing their lives to the disease and four million newly infected it is now widely conceded that the only way to stem the pandemic is by jointly scaling up prevention and treatment efforts. (excerpt)