HIV/AIDS prevention efforts have been effective in helping to slow the rate of the epidemic. The following are some of the successes due to these prevention efforts:

• The number of new HIV infections in the United States has declined from over 150,000 in the late 1980s to an estimated 40,000 per year by the early 1990s.
• Dramatic decreases in mother-to-child HIV transmission (perinatal transmission). The number of perinatal HIV infections has dropped from 1,000 to 2,000 per year in the early 1990s to 280-370 per year in 2000.
• The number of HIV/AIDS cases attributed to injection drug use has declined by approximately 9 percent per year from 2001 to 2004.²
• Advances in drug therapy have delayed onset of AIDS and more people are living longer and healthier after a diagnosis of HIV.
• Better understanding of which communities are at high-risk for HIV infection has allowed more targeted prevention programs and interventions.
• Increased community involvement in HIV prevention efforts has provided new partners in the fight against the epidemic.
• Behavioral interventions shown to be effective through randomized controlled trials have been implemented and disseminated for use with at-risk populations.

In addition to being effective, HIV prevention pays. The Federal Government alone, through the Ryan White CARE Act, Medicaid, and Medicare and other care programs, spent $11.7 billion on HIV-related medical care in 2005. CDC estimates that the average cost of lifetime treatment for HIV infection is $210,000. If 40,000 people are newly infected with HIV in one year, the additional cost to society for their lifetime HIV-related medical care may be as high as $8.4 billion. At CDC’s current budget level, only 3,430 infections must be prevented annually to actually result in cost savings. Several published studies have concluded that HIV prevention efforts can be cost-saving to society.

² CDC. (2005) Trends in HIV Diagnoses – 33 States, 2001 – 2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. 54(45):1149-1153.