Untangling the Web of Antiretroviral Price Reductions - 14th Edition

New data adds to a growing body of evidence that as well as saving lives, treating HIV can also help prevent HIV transmission, making the scale-up of treatment all the more urgent. In May 2011, a study called HPTN 052 supported by the US National Institutes of Health found a 96% reduction in transmission when HIV-positive persons in a relationship with an HIV-negative person were started early on antiretroviral therapy compared to people whose treatment was deferred.9 Early treatment also significantly reduced the development of tuberculosis, which remains the number one killer of people living with HIV/AIDS.

If HIV treatment and prevention interventions are ambitiously expanded, according to UNAIDS, twelve million infections and more than seven million deaths can be averted by 2020. The number of new infections could be reduced by more than half by 2015.