HIV/AIDS: Promising prevention method

In the years since a 2011 study found that early treatment with antiretroviral drugs could reduce HIV transmission between couples in which one partner has the virus and the other does not, “Treatment as Prevention” (TasP) has become a major focus for attention in the global fight against AIDS. But more work is needed to know how to use TasP in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are 1.5 million new infections each year and 25 million of the world’s 35 million people live with HIV.

This past spring, the Harvard AIDS Initiative (HAI) hosted the first TasP Africa workshop in Gaborone, Botswana. Led by Max Essex, chair of HAI and Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, the event brought together researchers, policy makers, and drug industry representatives to share plans and compare notes.

“We had open and constructive discussion about common goals and problems,” Essex said in the Summer issue of the HAI newsletter. “Those conversations should enable the various projects on Treatment as Prevention in Africa to move ahead more expeditiously.”