The nation’s HIV prevention efforts are guided by a single, ambitious strategy for combating the epidemic: the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS).2 Recent scientific breakthroughs have equipped us with an unprecedented number of effective tools to prevent infection.3-6 And in many of the communities hardest hit by HIV, there is growing leadership and momentum for change.
Yet the challenges remain daunting. By CDC’s latest estimates, approximately 50,000 Americans become infected with HIV annually, and 16,000 people with AIDS died in 2008.7,8 As a result, the number of people living with HIV in the United States, now at nearly 1.2 million, continues to grow by tens of thousands each year, creating more opportunities for HIV transmission.9 And a range of social, economic, and demographic factors affect some Americans’ risk for HIV, such as stigma, discrimination, income, education, and geographic region. While current prevention efforts have helped to keep the number of new
infections stable in recent years, continued growth in the population living with HIV will ultimately lead to more new infections if prevention, care, and treatment efforts are not intensified.