Wall Street Journal: Slowdown in HIV/AIDS Progress Puts Focus on Young Women
“Public health leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS have come to an ominous realization: Progress in cutting new infections has slowed, in part because of a persistent cycle of transmission among young women in sub-Saharan Africa. … The slowdown has alarmed public health experts, who warn that infections could start rising again. A reversal would erase progress against one of the most significant infectious disease epidemics of modern times, costing lives, economic prosperity, and billions more dollars than governments and organizations have already spent to fight it over decades. … The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief … said in December that new HIV diagnoses in women ages 15 to 24 have declined at least 25 percent since 2015 in 65 percent of the communities where its DREAMS programs were initially implemented…” (McKay, 3/16).