While advances in HIV treatment have greatly improved the lives of HIV-infected people, HIV remains a serious and fatal disease. In 2005, over 16,000 Americans with AIDS died. As a nation, we must continue to invest in prevention. As with many other diseases, Americans tend to focus more on treating than preventing HIV. For example, in FY 2006, only 5 percent of the domestic HIV/AIDS budget went to prevention, including prevention research and programs. While treatment and care for those already infected remains critical, we must intensify our collective efforts to prevent people from becoming infected in the first place. The scale of our response must be commensurate with the challenges.

CDC remains committed to a strong prevention response. However, government support alone will not be sufficient. The support of the public and private sectors, as well as community organizations, is essential.

The CDC HIV Prevention Strategic Plan: Extended Through 2010 consists of a carefully considered set of short-term milestones and objectives for the nation’s prevention priorities that will guide CDC’s efforts for the next 3 years. CDC does not anticipate a significant expansion of HIV prevention funding during that time. This Extended Plan remains rooted in the best available science and builds on important progress already made in recent years. The plan refines objectives to ensure a focus on populations now at greatest risk and application of new technology and the latest science. We believe the short-term milestones can be achieved through refined, targeted approaches. These milestones challenge us to accelerate progress with available resources.

CDC will begin an in-depth, comprehensive, and inclusive process to develop a new long-range strategic plan. That plan, when completed, will provide a blueprint for HIV prevention activities through 2020 that is aligned with CDC’s Health Protection Goals and integrated with other infectious diseases such as viral hepatitis, STD, and TB. As with the development of the original HIV Prevention Strategic Plan goals (2001-2005), the plan will be based on input from many sectors, including advocates from affected and at-risk communities, public health officials, academics, health-care providers, and others. CDC plans to identify the most important outcomes in surveillance, research, program, and evaluation and will develop indicators to closely monitor progress.