A blog about the 16th International AIDS Conference, Toronto, Canada, August 13-18, 2006.
If one thing has been hammered home this week (and, indeed, over the past 25 years) regarding HIV/AIDS, it's that prevention is key. Treatments, while improving, are still a distant second place to preventing primary infection as far as the fight against AIDS goes, and a large portion of the world's HIV-infected population still has no access to these treatments. Prevention, therefore, is critical. And while the condom has become the symbol for HIV prevention, strategies go far beyond that tool.
Over at WebMD, they have a nice summary of many of the key points from this week's conference regarding prevention issues: 6 ways to prevent AIDS. I'll list them here briefly, but be sure to check out the article, which gives a bit more explanation:
1. Male Circumcision
2. Microbicides
3. Diaphragms and Other Cervical Barriers
4. HIV 'Prevention Pills'
5. Herpes Treatment (I'll have a post up on this tomorrow)
6. HIV Vaccines
They end by emphasizing just what Hannah mentioned:
The bottom line "is that we have to go beyond the ABCs of prevention," Ramjee says, referring to the widely used acronym for abstinence, being faithful to one sexual partner, and using condoms."I have described a new acronym that goes right up to I," she says.
"We have an additional C for circumcision, D for diaphragm for HIV prevention, E for exposure prophylaxis -- both pre and post, F for female-controlled microbicides, G for genital tract infection, H for HSV-2 (herpes) suppressive therapy, and I for immunization through vaccine."
While these are excellent starts, I'll note that with the exception of a vaccine, they don't address issues when HIV is transmitted via routes other than sex. In some areas, such as China, injection drug use is fueling the epidemic in a huge way, and it's important to address those behaviors as well in any comprehensive prevention strategy, as many Canadians emphasized in an earlier conference session and at the opening talks.
Image from http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/contracept/condom.gif
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