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Campaigns to expand access to AIDS treatment in poor countries will only be sustainable if prevention efforts are strengthened at the same time, experts have warned.
The failure to integrate access and prevention could have a catastrophic effect on the global HIV/AIDS toll by 2020, according to an analysis published this week in the US Public Library of Science journal, PLoS Medicine.
"Treatment can enable more effective prevention, and prevention makes treatment affordable. Sustained progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS will be attained only through a comprehensive response," the article noted.
The authors predict that if there is no change in current levels of prevention and care, over the next two decades there will be 3.7 million new HIV infections and 2.6 million AIDS-related deaths each year in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
The published article can be accessed at:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020016
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