Fight against HIV losing momentum; Robust analysis needed to develop long-term strategy

"After a decade of unprecedented increases in donor funding and a corresponding 17 percent decline worldwide in the number of new infections, the fight against HIV is losing momentum," Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School, and Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and former executive director of UNAIDS, write in this Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

"The response to AIDS is at a critical juncture. There are 33 million people living with the disease. HIV fatigue needs to be countered with robust analysis in order to support a long-term strategy," and "[t]he focus has to be on identifying those interventions that have the greatest effect on the pandemic for the amount of money spent," they write.  The authors reference a new initiative called RethinkHIV, launched by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, that "examines six areas of HIV intervention in the region of sub-Saharan Africa -- 47 countries with a combined population of 818 million -- and highlights some paths to better decision making" (9/23).