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Transitions
Volume 12, No. 3,
March 2001
This Transitions is
also available in [PDF] format.
Current Research—No Time to Lose
A new report by the Institute
of Medicine's Committee on HIV Prevention Strategies
in the United States reminds Americans that half of all
new HIV infections occurs in youth under age 25. One-fourth
of all new HIV infections occurs in youth under age 21.
Asserting that the United States has no time to lose
if it is to reverse the distressing trend toward infection
in ever-younger people, the Committee flatly asserts
that the nation needs leaders who will work to overcome
social barriers and to capitalize on unrealized opportunities
to prevent HIV. The Committee believes that the nation
should have an explicit HIV prevention goal: to
avert as many new HIV infections as possible with the
resources available for HIV prevention.
Moreover, the Committee recognized that many factors can
undermine public health goals:
- Using inappropriate considerations to frame policy
choices
- Applying less than desirable rules to public health
problems
- Allowing prejudice and individual/sectarian values
to undermine policy goals
- Allocating insufficient resources
- Allowing organizational factors to impede policy implementation
- Permitting inadequate training or other failures in
implementation to undermine successful outcomes.
Therefore, the Committee recommended six important elements
to allow the nation to meet the HIV prevention goal of
averting as many new HIV infections as possible.
- Develop an accurate surveillance system focused on
new HIV infections.
- Allocate resources to prevent as many new HIV infections
as possible.
- Use the clinical setting for prevention activities,
including testing, counseling, and treatment for HIV
infected individuals.
- Translate research into action.
- Invest in the development of new tools and technologies
for HIV prevention.
- Strive to overcome social barriers.
Under social barriers needing dismantling, the Committee
particularly noted barriers to effective sexuality education.
The Committee specifically recommended eliminating
congressional, federal, state, and local requirements that
public funds be used for abstinence-only education and
that states and local school districts implement and continue
to support age-appropriate comprehensive sex education
and condom availability programs.
Committee
on HIV Prevention Strategies in the United States, Institute
of Medicine. No Time to Lose: Getting More from HIV
Prevention. Washington, DC: National Academy Press,
in press.
Transitions (ISSN
1097-1254) © 2001, is a quarterly publication of Advocates for Youth—Helping
young people make safe and responsible decisions about
sex. For permission
to reprint, contact Transitions' editor at 202.419.3420.
Editor: Sue Alford
Click here to view the Publications Catalog and/or
to order this publication.
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