The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

There are an estimated 1.1 million people in the United States living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its disease progression, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Despite prevention efforts, an estimated 56,300 new individuals were infected with HIV in the United States in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.1 Nearly 30 years after the identification of the disease, there is no approved vaccine or cure for HIV/AIDS but it can be treated with highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), which slows the progression of HIV to AIDS. For those with access to it through private or public health insurance or other programs, HAART can transform the effects of the virus so that the illness becomes a chronic condition, rather than a terminal one.