“Now is the time to end the HIV epidemic. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to eliminate new HIV infections in America.”
HHS Secretary Alex Azar wrote on February 5, 2019, that we have “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end the epidemic, thanks to the most powerful HIV prevention and treatment tools in history and new tools that allow us to pinpoint where HIV infections are spreading most rapidly.”
He continues:
“Thanks to the HIV medicine antiretroviral therapy (ART), individuals with HIV that take their medicine as prescribed and maintain an undetectable viral load can live long, healthy lives and have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to a partner.
Thanks to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication, the risk of contracting HIV from someone is reduced by up to 97 percent.
And thanks to new laboratory and epidemiological techniques, we are able to focus in on geographic regions in greatest need of additional resources.
Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America, acts boldly on this unprecedented opportunity by providing the hardest hit communities with the additional expertise, technology, and resources required to address the HIV epidemic in their communities.