World AIDS Day 2010: A Year for Hope Against HIV

Every year on December 1, World AIDS Day, we pause to acknowledge that HIV continues to exact a heavy toll on millions across the globe and to remember those who have dedicated their lives to eradicating this epidemic. Since the first five cases of HIV-related disease were recognized in 1981, the epidemic has touched all corners of the world, spreading tenaciously and claiming an estimated 30 million lives.

In 2010 we celebrate two groundbreaking successes in HIV prevention. We mark World AIDS Day 2010 with results from two landmark clinical trials reported this year. The CAPRISA 004 and iPrEx trials provided the first proof-of-concept that antiretroviral-based topical microbicides and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can reduce the risk of HIV infection.  

Adapting antiretroviral drugs to protect healthy adults from becoming infected with HIV has great potential to transform the global response to the HIV/AIDS and to address the world’s urgent need to reverse the HIV epidemic.

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