Preventing HIV/AIDS in the United States, 1981–2009: History in the making

The history of HIV/AIDS prevention is, without question, a great, unfinished work. True, there have been important milestones in the three decades since the epidemic was first described in the United States [1]—accomplishments in science, advances in policy and the evolution of organized efforts to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus [2]. Yet, the epidemic is far from over, either in the United States or elsewhere in the world. According to the UNAIDS, there were 33 million people living with HIV in 2007 and almost 3 million new infections that same year [3]. In the United States, an estimated 56,300 persons became newly infected with HIV in 2006—roughly 40 % higher than previous estimates of HIV incidence [4]. Continued gaps in knowledge, notably in the domains of vaccine and microbicide development, have blunted efforts to prevent continued HIV transmission [5] and failure to bring proven HIV prevention interventions and programs to scale [6] has impeded optimal progress.