When We Know Better, We Do Better: The State of AIDS, Science

January 2, 2015

Introduction

The late Dr. Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better!”

I can’t think of a more appropriate quote or a more fitting messenger
when I think of this moment in time in the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in America. Nearly 35 years have passed since the HIV/AIDS epidemic was first recognized, and nearly two decades have gone by since Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) emerged.

Only two years ago, at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., scientists and activists, including myself, hailed the potential for ending the epidemic once and for all.