Despite the availability of effective prevention interventions, CDC estimates that 40,000 people—too many—become infected with HIV each year in the United States. Although this estimate has remained the same for the past decade, the epidemic has not. Advances in treatment are helping more and more HIV-infected people live healthier and longer lives. And with more people living with HIV than ever before, it is increasingly important that people know their HIV status so they can receive treatment for themselves and avoid transmitting their infection to others. Even the treatments themselves pose challenges, as they potentially encourage an attitude of complacency. And each new generation of young people presents an audience in need of new or reinforced HIV/AIDS prevention messages. We hope that this booklet helps you better appreciate the HIV/AIDS prevention challenges of the third decade and CDC’s efforts to meet them. Its primary focus is the epidemic in the United States and the work of CDC’s Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Coverage of all HIV/AIDS prevention work at CDC would be too extensive for this booklet.

We begin in the past, with a brief history of accomplishments since 1981. Then we focus on the present: the current status of the epidemic in the United States and CDC’s responses.

We conclude by looking into the future. CDC’s HIV Prevention Strategic Plan is the overarching force behind our approach to the third decade of HIV prevention. Advancing HIV Prevention: New Strategies for a Changing Epidemic is a new initiative specifically intended to reduce barriers to early diagnosis of HIV infection and increase access to quality medical care, treatment, and ongoing prevention services for people who are living with HIV. Finally, CDC continues to review and improve its surveillance, research, and prevention programs to have a greater impact on the HIV epidemic. For example, CDC will be revising its guidance to better facilitate HIV screening in health care settings. It is also conducting state of- the-art prevention trials, using antiretroviral drugs to develop new methods to prevent transmission of HIV. Throughout the third decade of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, CDC will continue to adapt to changing trends to prevent new HIV infections and improve the quality of life for those living with HIV.

Robert S. Janssen, MD
Director, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention–Surveillance and Epidemiology
Acting Director, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention–Intervention Research and Support
National Center for HIV, STD, and Tb Prevention
Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention