Track Rollout

Treatment as prevention can help bring the epidemic to a tipping point. But takes work to get there--and not to tip back.

In a given country, the AIDS epidemic is said to reach its "tipping point" when the number of new annual HIV infections falls below the annual increase in patients starting ART. Coverage matters. Countries first have to achieve approximately 66 percent ART coverage before a valid tipping point calculation can be made. The quality of ART care matters too; it is not just starting on ART but staying on it and achieving virologic suppression that matters for both individual and public health.

For prevention advocates, there are a range of issues to track and amplify around implementation, monitoring and research related to treatment as prevention. To learn more:

• Tipping point infographic: Understand how the "tipping point" is calculated, what it means and doesn't mean
• Summary table of ongoing treatment as prevention trials
• Investment in innovation in viral suppression: A section of AVAC Report 2013: Research & Reality focused on advocacy for effective ART, including viral load monitoring
• Narrow the gaps in the Treatment Cascade: A section of AVAC Report 2012: One year and counting that defines the treatment cascade and issues to address gaps at each stage