PEPFAR blueprint relies on science to inform policies, SciDev.Net reports

"Science is at the center of efforts to design and implement more effective preventative and care programs for HIV/AIDS set out in a blueprint published by a U.S. government initiative that fights the disease," SciDev.Net reports, referencing the PEPFAR Blueprint: Creating an AIDS-free Generation that was released November 29. "Using science to evaluate initiatives, develop new interventions and find ways to keep people in treatment are some of the suggestions in the report," the news service writes. "The blueprint is an attempt to take this science and translate it into policy and programs in a much more aggressive way," David Haroz, special assistant to the principal deputy U.S. global AIDS coordinator and a co-author of the report, said, according to SciDev.Net. The news service discusses the contents of the blueprint and continues, "All actors, from regional governments to international organizations, such as the World Bank and the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria], need to apply its principles if it was to have the necessary impact, [Haroz] adds" (Piotrowski, 12/7).