U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today that “Treatment as Prevention” is integral to the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
“Let’s end the old debate over treatment versus prevention and embrace treatment as prevention,” she said this morning in Washington, D.C.
Clinton emphasized that effective drug treatment is key to preventing further transmission of HIV and will help pave the way towards an AIDS-free generation.
“We now know if you treat a person living with HIV effectively, you reduce the chance of transmission to a partner by 96 percent,” she said. “If we take a comprehensive view of our approach to the pandemic, treatment doesn’t take away from prevention. It adds to it.”
This is no surprise to British Columbia, as Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS first introduced Treatment as Prevention in 2006.
Clinton also noted that Treatment as Prevention was vital in the prevention of mother-to-child transmissions, allowing mothers to give birth safely to children.
Clinton called on the world to step up efforts in expanding treatment for those in need, and issued a specific call to action to achieve the goal of an AIDS-free generation.