No Turning Back

Winning the Fight

Despite the many successes in fighting HIV among MSM, it is apparent that the epidemic will be defeated only with a major new effort to combat the spread of infection.

We know from extensive scientific research that numerous interventions are effective in preventing HIV infection. But science alone cannot fight the epidemic. In addition to implementing science-based prevention programs, communities at risk must own the fight against the disease. The stigma, discrimination and other social barriers to effective HIV prevention must be removed.

Just as no single strategy alone will defeat a resurgent epidemic among MSM, no single stakeholder will prove victorious in this effort. As the AIDS epidemic has demonstrated time and again, sustaining and building on early successes -- and adapting along with an evolving disease -- will require a nationwide commitment, and a major public-private collaboration on many levels.

The gay community made public health history in the 1980s and 1990s by swiftly and dramatically confronting a tremendous threat to gay men's lives. Such a response is necessary -- and possible -- once again to prevent a resurgence in HIV infections, and to lay the foundation for a long-term, sustainable approach to fighting AIDS among all men who have sex with men.