Treatment as prevention

Treatment as prevention is a concept in public health that the transmission of an infection can be prevented by treating people with the infection so that they become less likely to transmit the infection to others.

The term is primarily used to talk about treating people that are already living with HIV/AIDS to lower risk of HIV infection in a community.

After the HPTN 052 clinical trial gave supporting evidence that treatment as prevention could be a useful strategy for preventing the spread of HIV, many regions began incorporating a treatment as prevention plan in their public health policy for responding to HIV.