Strategies for universalistic and targeted HIV prevention

The controversy over 'targeted' versus 'universalistic' programs for HIV prevention has persisted throughout the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States and in some European countries. Building on previous analyses, we outline methods for integrating universalistic and targeted HIV prevention programming. The outline considers possible synergy between targeted and universalistic programs, rather than a forced choice between the two. Components within this framework include a continuum of the intensity of targeted programs, specification of local risk behavior populations, categories of risk behavior, and HIV seroprevalence within local risk- behavior populations. Given the scarce resources currently available, preventing all new HIV infections is not a realistic public health goal, but with better use of current scientific knowledge, it should be possible to greatly reduce the rate of new HIV infections.