The world of infectious diseases is filled with the cries of “The End of AIDS” or an “AIDS-Free Generation”. Stephen Lewis will explore the implications of these phrases. Are we really that close to the end of the pandemic? If so, how will it be achieved? What is happening on the ground? Have the enthusiastic exhortations lulled the donor community into a false sense of expectation? Is that why the world failed so abjectly in the most recent Global Fund replenishment? Could it be that UNAIDS and the Global Fund and PEPFAR have embraced a cheerleading mentality rather than a more serious assessment of realities? Or are the dissenters profoundly off-base?
Will the significant progress that’s been made really bring an end to the virus? In the midst of all of this where stands “Treatment as Prevention”? And what of the high-risk groups like men who have sex with men, now excoriated in a caldron of homophobia? How does one reach the “End of AIDS” without reaching these high-risk groups? And what of a vaccine? A microbicide? A cure? And above all, how does the appalling neglect of women throughout the pandemic square with an AIDS-Free Generation?