Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - December 7, 2006
Bob Roehr
"What would the epidemic be like if the current prevention programs were not there? Hundreds of thousands of infections have been prevented," and in a very cost-effective way, he said. Transmission between seropositive and seronegative partners has declined from about 25 percent in the mid-1980s to about 4 percent today. He called these great successes.
Historically, as money spent on HIV prevention increased, the number of new infections declined. "Over the last few years, both in real terms and adjusting for inflation, we've seen somewhat of a decrease in investment in prevention. I worry about what that might mean as we look to the future; will we see an increase?"
Holtgrave said the multi-year freeze in funding for prevention programs has resulted in a "crumbling" of information and the knowledge base of HIV and how to prevent infection among the public.
"We have to rebuild that," he said.
He said the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention budget of about $700 million for HIV prevention is short by about $350 million from what it should be "if we were to really provide comprehensive prevention services in this country."
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