Ending America’s HIV Epidemic: Why the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Still Matters

Excerpt

During the third decade of America’s HIV epidemic, Copenhaver and Fisher summarized the perspectives of fifty HIV prevention experts who were asked for their thoughts on how best to reduce the rate of new HIV infections in the United States [1]. At the time the study was published in 2006, the annual incidence of HIV in the U.S. was estimated to be approximately 40,000 new infections every year, an annual rate that had been relatively constant since the late 1980s [1]. Among the responses most frequently provided as approaches to reduce annual infections were improved targeting of HIV prevention efforts, a greater focus on societal-level issues that mediate HIV risk and stronger and more meaningful linkages between HIV prevention efforts and clinical, social and human services directed toward high-risk populations [1]. …