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Thirty years after the first appearance of HIV/AIDS, experts claim to have discovered a way to control this deadly disease. A successful medical study found that the anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs used to reduce the reproduction of the virus in the blood system also prevent the transmission of HIV. Currently, ARVs are provided to HIV-positive patients when their condition reaches an advanced stage. The study, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tested the outcomes of providing ARVs much earlier. The study reported a 96 percent reduction in HIV transmission to an uninfected sexual partner. The Economist heralded this news with its eye-catching cover story “The End of AIDS?”, published earlier this month.
But of course, there is a catch. Ending HIV/AIDS will come at a huge financial cost, and it will be hard to mobilize backing in the current economic climate. Other concerns include access to ARV drugs (particularly in low-income countries) and resistance to ARV drugs. ARVs require strict adherence; if a patient does not take the drugs properly, the HIV virus can develop resistance to the drug.
Nonetheless, this study suggests huge progress. The potential to use treatment as prevention against HIV is significant and represents another step towards controlling HIV/AIDS.
Since its inception, the Pulitzer Center has supported coverage of the social, economic and political impacts of HIV/AIDS. The “HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean” Global Gateway features reporting on HIV/AIDS in Haiti after the earthquake, region-wide stigmas associated with being HIV-positive and how people adjust to living with the disease. Recently, Lisa Armstrong has reported on the struggle of infected Haitians rebuilding their lives after the earthquake. Emmy award-winning Live Hope Love, a collaborative Pulitzer Center project, is a multimedia website chronicling poet Kwame Dawes’ trip to Jamaica where he explored the impact of HIV/AIDS on everyday people.