Essay Engaging Men in Prevention and Care for HIV/AIDS in Africa

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) saves lives and prevents new HIV/AIDS infections [1]. Successful efforts to increase the number of people receiving ART create important public health challenges, some of which may be considered counter-intuitive. One of the largest challenges for ART provision has been targeting populations most affected by HIV/AIDS and most vulnerable to the effects of the disease. In Africa, the focus of the epidemic has historically been on women and children. Women are considered to be particularly vulnerable to HIV infection in this setting because of biological factors, their reduced sexual autonomy, and men’s sexual power and privilege over them. [2– 6]. This understanding has led HIV/ AIDS public health prevention and treat-ment campaigns to focus on women and children in this setting. As a result, men have received considerably less attention in the epidemic [7] and receive less targeted HIV prevention and treatment programs [5]. Targeting men in prevention and treat-ment, however, may have a large impact on mortality, new infections, and the economic impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa. In the wake of the HPTN 052 trial results, demonstrating 96 % (95 % confidence in-terval, 73%–99%) efficacy of prevention in discordant couples with earlier ART treatment initiation, engaging greater numbers of men with HIV in treatment could have important prevention benefits for women and girls, and for primary prevention of vertical transmission [1]