On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service

by Anthony Fauci

So, if we could identify everyone who was HIV infected and put them on antiretroviral drugs, we could interrupt the chain of transmission, theoretically slowing and even halting the momentum of the pandemic and ultimately ending it. In addition, if we implemented PrEP in those people who are at high risk of infection, we could even further accelerate the end of the pandemic. Easier said than done. It was difficult in the United States and even more so throughout the resource-poor regions of the world to identify everyone with HIV, much less put them on and sustain them on antiretroviral therapy. However, as difficult as this task was, we finally had the evidence-based tools to accomplish it. We could end the global HIV/AIDS pandemic even in the absence of a vaccine.