Don't short change prevention

The end of the global AIDS epidemic will be postponed indefinitely if funding for HIV prevention is reduced to pay for HIV treatment, writes epidemiologist Jason Reed of Jhpiego in a blog. Although voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is the single most cost-effective HIV prevention strategy for the hardest-hit countries, Reed writes, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has reduced its VMMC targets by one-third and “shuttered countless circumcision clinics” to abide by congressional “earmarks” for HIV treatment. Calling on global health leaders convening at the United Nations in June for the High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS to strike a careful balance between HIV prevention and HIV treatment, he warns that “if they shortchange prevention now, their decisions will merely guarantee a future of more people needlessly infected and requiring lifelong treatment” (Congress Blog, 12 May 2016).