A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore found the number of new HIV infections in the U.S. has dropped, but the decline fell short of goals set by the U.S. National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
The NHAS set key targets in 2010 to reduce HIV incidence by 25 percent and the HIV transmission rate by 30 percent by 2015.
According to the researchers' findings, the number of new HIV infections decreased from 37,366 to 33,218 between 2010 and 2015, an 11.1 percent drop. HIV transmission rates also decreased during the time period studied, from 3.16 percent to 2.61 percent, a 17.3 percent drop.
Despite missing the mark by a "sizable margin," lead author Robert Bonacci says the results are promising.
"Scaling up HIV treatment and care alone was not enough," said Mr. Bonacci. "We need a simultaneous expansion of diagnostic and prevention services, paired with an intensified focus on communities disproportionately affected by HIV — particularly gay men, young people, transgender people, African-American and Hispanic communities, and those who live in the southern U.S., to sufficiently impact the HIV epidemic."
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