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[Announcer] This podcast is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC - safer, healthier people.

Hello. I’m Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Thank you to everyone who was able to join us in Atlanta for the 2007 National HIV Prevention Conference in December. This Conference is the only major conference that focuses exclusively on the science and practice of HIV prevention in the United States. It was a wonderful opportunity to see so many of our colleagues from the public and private sectors and other government agencies working on HIV prevention, and to share the latest science – and experiences – on what works to reduce HIV infections. I believe that we all left the conference re-energized and re-committed to continuing prevention, research, dissemination, and training efforts to reduce the toll of this devastating disease in this nation.

Research presented at the conference provided new insights into challenges we are facing, as well as new data on promising new prevention strategies for populations hardest hit by HIV/AIDS—especially African Americans and gay and bisexual men of all races. More than 425 scientific talks were presented at the conference and nearly 250 posters were displayed, highlighting the latest prevention research and policy, programs for at-risk populations, and efforts to integrate HIV prevention into treatment and other programs.

This year’s conference reflected enhanced community engagement, with special sessions designed to improve communication and interaction with communities of color. The conference also supported more scholarships to allow people affected by the epidemic to have access to the latest science on HIV prevention. We also included a new track dedicated to program collaboration and service integration, which highlighted the bridges we need to build between HIV prevention and other services and settings, such as mental health and substance abuse treatment, as well as programs to combat other diseases, such as tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and other STDs--- which also impact the populations at risk for HIV.

For those of you not able to join us in Atlanta, many of the sessions from the conference, including the opening and closing plenaries, are available for listening or viewing in their entirety, thanks to the Kaiser Family Foundation. We have also created a special Web library at the National Prevention Information Network website that houses PDF versions of many of the presentations. To access all this information, please visit the official 2007 National HIV Prevention Conference website at http://www.2007nhpc.org. Once again, that website is http://www.2007nhpc.org.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to fighting HIV. We look forward to continued dialogue and collaboration and we hope you can join us in Atlanta for the next National HIV Prevention Conference in August of 2009.

[Announcer] To access the most accurate and relevant health information that affects you, your family and your community, please visit www.cdc.gov.