Global Community Has Scientific Evidence to Create AIDS-Free Generation

"What stands out in my mind from this week's presentations [at the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)] is that [HIV] interventions previously proved to work in controlled clinical trials are now -- over and over again -- proving effective outside the research setting, in the real world, in poor and rich communities alike. The pieces are coming together," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. He discusses several of the interventions, including the scale up of antiretroviral therapy (ART), treatment as prevention, voluntary medical male circumcision, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). "Ending the HIV pandemic is an enormous and multifaceted challenge, but we know it is possible," Fauci writes, adding that it will require "commitment" and "investments." He continues, "We must enhance what works and eliminate what does not, overcome legal and political barriers, and remove the stigma associated with HIV." Fauci concludes, "The global community has a historic opportunity based on solid scientific evidence to end the AIDS pandemic, opening the door to an AIDS-free generation" (7/26).