Before the scale-up of the international response to the AIDS pandemic, community responses in developing countries played a crucial role in providing services and care for those affected. This study is the first comprehensive, mixed-method evaluation of the impact of that response. The evaluation finds that community response can be effective at increasing knowledge of HIV, promoting social empowerment, increasing access to and use of HIV services, and even decreasing HIV incidence, all through the effective mobilization of limited resources. By effectively engaging with this powerful community structure, future HIV and AIDS programs can ensure that communities continue to contribute to the global response to HIV and AIDS.

Starting now, it is important to establish clear targets and check our pace. Consider the alternative: What will happen if, after a year of great hope, the global community doesn’t set an accountability clock for achieving substantial progress toward ending AIDS? What possible explanation could we give members of the next generation when they ask, “Why did you say it was possible and then fail to come up with a plan and act on it?”

Clinical trials on PrEP began in 2005. These trials have focused on the effectiveness of PrEP among people who inject drugs, HIV serodiscordant couples, heterosexual men and women, women at higher risk of HIV exposure, and men and transgender women who have sex with men (MSM-TG). Of these, two have completed as planned, one was stopped early for effectiveness, and two others were stopped or had arms discontinued for reasons of futility.

In the context of important emerging evidence related to two biobehavioral prevention interventions[treatment as prevention (TasP) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)], the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), in partnership with the British HIV Association (BHIVA), hosted an evidence summit 11-12 June 2012 in London to discuss the current state of TasP and PrEP science and to provide a platform for consensus-building around whether and how these novel prevention strategies might be introduced globally. Health care providers, researchers, policy makers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and representatives of government authorities, donor agencies, pharmaceutical companies, advocacy organizations, and professional associations attended from 52 countries around the world.