Beginning of the End of AIDS in Sight

A guest post from Erin Hohlfelder, Policy Manager – Health, at (RED)’s sister organization, ONE.

Thirty years have passed since HIV/AIDS was first discovered. Although that may not seem like much in the grand scheme of time — particularly when compared with other ancient plagues — anyone in my generation knows that it’s nearly impossible to remember a world without AIDS.

Since 1981, we’ve come to better know and understand the disease itself, as well as how it can be more effectively treated and prevented. We’ve made significant progress in financing the treatment of AIDS as a global community, collectively providing access to life-saving medication for 6.6 million people while also staving off countless new infections. We’ve learned how to ensure that HIV-positive mothers don’t pass along the virus to their children. And we’ve fought back against what was once widespread stigma related to the disease. Still, in spite of this progress, AIDS has always loomed large as a dark cloud in development, hovering in particular over the African continent.

We are at a critical point in this fight, 30 years later. We’re in the middle of an incredibly difficult time for foreign aid budgets and programs, but a number of breakthrough studies and trials over the last year are driving new momentum. These game-changing studies have offered exciting new tools in the fight to prevent HIV, and have given us new data that shows AIDS treatment works as prevention, reducing the likelihood of passing on HIV by as much as 96 percent. Together, these studies show that with the right leadership and investments, bending the curve on AIDS is possible in our generation.

So now more than ever, we must recommit ourselves to the fight against HIV and to achieving specific, measurable goals. By 2015, ONE, (RED) and our partners want to see a world where:

No child is born with HIV (an AIDS Free Generation)

15 million people are accessing AIDS treatment

The rate of new HIV infections is drastically reduced

No one thinks these goals will be easy to achieve. But everyone can agree that a world without AIDS is worth fighting for. Stay tuned to this space over the next few months, as we invite others inside and outside of ONE to share their vision for how we can get to the beginning of the end of AIDS.

Here’s how you can get involved - please tweet @WhiteHouse and ask them to launch a bold global plan by World AIDS Day (Dec 1) for prevention and treatment.