The XVIII International AIDS Society meeting: Waltzing with death

published on July 22, 2010 in The Economist

AIDS still kills 2m people a year. But the rate of new infections is falling and it is possible to imagine bringing the disease under control

Ten years ago, when the International AIDS Society (IAS) met in Durban, there was a lot of fractious debate between those who wanted to spend money on treating the sick and those who thought that stopping the epidemic was more important. It took another six years to realise that you might be able to do both. Suppressing the virus in someone’s body clearly saves his life, but it ought also to make him less likely to pass on infection. The latest evidence that this might be true was released at this year’s IAS meeting, held in Vienna on July 18th-23rd.

The meeting brought news of another long-sought breakthrough: a vaginal microbicide that will allow women to protect themselves from men who do not wear condoms. There was also much hand-wringing about money, as governments and taxpayers in rich countries feel the pinch. But even here there was a refreshing honesty, as the international agencies charged with combating the disease queued up to suggest ways of doing more with less. That businesslike approach was apparent, too, in discussions over focusing treatment on those who are most at risk.

As the meeting opened, it was announced that a study by Julio Montaner, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, had shown that ramping up treatment in that Canadian province halved the rate of new infections. Dr Montaner’s study, published in the Lancet, was the strongest confirmation yet that treatment and prevention are two sides of the same coin. The study showed that the annual rate of infection in 1996—the year when the modern regime of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was introduced—had, by 2009, fallen by 52%. During that period the number of people on treatment rose by 547%.

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Julio Montaner

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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The XVIII International AIDS Society meeting: Waltzing with death

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