Research
NIAID supports an HIV basic science research program that provides valuable scientific information about the basic biology of HIV, the immune response to HIV infection, and potential targets for prevention and therapeutic strategies.
Identifying and understanding the risk factors associated with HIV acquisition and transmission, and the development and progression of AIDS in men, women, and adolescents are critical aspects in the fight against this disease.
Non-vaccine prevention strategies are critical to curbing the continued spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Research-based prevention strategies have already contributed to the maintenance of low infection rates in a number of settings and to declining HIV epidemics in specific populations around the world. In resource-constrained countries, in particular, non-vaccine prevention strategies are important for reducing new infections where there is limited access to health care and antiretroviral drugs.
NIAID supports a comprehensive AIDS therapeutics research program with the goal of developing new and better approaches to treat and control HIV infection and associated co-infections and complications.
According to the latest United Nations estimates, worldwide more than 40 million people are infected with HIV, and the prevalence levels for this virus will continue to rise globally. Historically, vaccines have proven to be the most effective weapon in our fight against infectious diseases such as smallpox, polio, measles, and yellow fever. HIV vaccines are our best hope to end the HIV pandemic.