A patient with AIDS at a community hospital in the Central African Republic. Sub-Saharan Africa has high rates of HIV infection -- and was the location for a trial testing the effectiveness of a new strategy for preventing infection.
Barbara Debout/AFP via Getty Images
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Hydeia Broadbent attends the Los Angeles premiere of Apple's "They Call Me Magic" at Regency Village Theatre on April 14, 2022 in Los Angeles, Calif. Leon Bennett/Getty Images hide caption
Alexis Perkins, 25, tried to get a prescription for PrEP during a recent visit to her OB-GYN in Atlanta, but her doctor did not feel confident prescribing it. Sam Whitehead/KFF Health News hide caption
Tori Cooper is the first Black transgender woman appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. Tori Cooper hide caption
Counseling a newly diagnosed HIV patient in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption
Illinois would only be the second state, behind Texas over 25 years ago, to repeal laws that criminalize HIV exposure put in place across the country in the late 1980s and early '90s. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption
Brooke Parker, an organizer with the group Solutions Oriented Addiction Response, displays an HIV testing kit in Charleston, W.Va., in March. Outbreaks of HIV/AIDS are expected to rise as resources have been redirected to the fight against COVID-19 — delaying and sometimes cutting off HIV testing and treatment. John Raby/AP hide caption
A drug user in a Kyiv apartment. She benefited from a needle exchange program aimed at reducing HIV transmission among intravenous drug users in Ukraine. Participants in such programs face such obstacles as transportation shutdowns and stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. Gideon Mendel/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
Truvada is one of two HIV prevention drugs that will be available for free to qualified individuals. BSIP/Universal Images Group/Getty Images hide caption
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday authorizing pharmacists to dispense HIV preventative medications to patients without a physician's prescription. Truvada is one such drug. Rich Pedroncelli/AP hide caption
HHS Secretary Alex Azar at a White House roundtable discussion of health care prices in January. Azar tells NPR his office is now in "active negotiations and discussion" with drugmakers on how to make HIV prevention medicines more available and "cost-effective." Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
More testing for HIV infection is one of the steps needed to halt the spread of the virus. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Gilead Sciences makes Truvada, a medicine known generically as "pre-exposure prophylaxis," or PrEP. Consistent, daily doses of the drug are thought to reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90 percent. Paul Sakuma/AP hide caption
A child is tested for HIV in Johannesburg, South Africa. A single injection of antibodies that target HIV is being developed and analyzed. Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images hide caption
At a recent National LGBTQ Task Force conference in Washington D.C., Luis Felipe Cebas (right) from Whitman-Walker Health, talks with Sarah Fleming about PrEP, the pre-exposure drug that can help protect against HIV infection. Tyrone Turner/ WAMU hide caption
Heineken has bottling plants around the world. Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Researchers are working on a new way to deliver anti-HIV drugs. A six-pointed device (artist's rendering, above) folds up to fit inside a capsule. One swallowed, the capsule dissolves and the device opens up and slowly dispenses the medication. Partners Healthcare / Screenshot by NPR hide caption
Nick Vargas talks with Dr. Kathryn Hall at The Source, an LGBT center in Visalia, Calif. Hall says that time and time again, her patients tell her they're afraid to come out to their other doctors. Ezra David Romero/Valley Public Radio hide caption
An HIV-positive mother in Thailand plays with her son, who did not contract the virus in utero. Thailand has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to the World Health Organization. Sakchai Lalit/AP hide caption
Truvada can dramatically reduce the risk of HIV infection when taken as a preventative medicine — if taken every day. Studies are underway to determine if young people are likely to take the pill consistently. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
In Philadelphia, some drug users are selling clean needles from needle exchange programs on the street. Researchers say the black market isn't necessarily a bad thing. ImageZoo/Corbis hide caption
San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener (left) says he started taking a drug to prevent HIV infection earlier this year. Lisa Aliferis/KQED hide caption
Human immunodeficiency virus Type 1 inserts its genetic material into the DNA of human cells, turning them into little HIV factories. Eye of Science/Science Source hide caption