UNFPA has learned from our own efforts and those of others the most effective ways to promote and integrate HIV prevention in sexual and reproductive health programmes. These lessons learned from collective past experience can help guide our path forward:

• Prevention works, is cost effective and is feasible.



• Strong sustained political commitment is a common thread in all countries with positive experiences.



• While prevention is the mainstay of any response, prevention and care and treatment efforts are most effective when programmed together.



• To fully combat the epidemic the approach must be multisectoral.



• To reach the goals of the ICPD, ICPD+5, UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, and other HIV-related goals and commitments², we must scale up the response.



• Whenever possible, programming and interventions should build upon existing sustainable structures rather than create new ones.



• Involvement of relevant stakeholders, especially recipients, is imperative at all stages of interventions: from planning and decisionmaking to implementation and evaluation.



• The earlier prevention efforts are started the more effective they are in quelling the spread of HIV.



• And lastly, stigma, discrimination, and denial coupled with sensitivities in addressing with sexual and reproductive health issues impede the response to the epidemic including prevention efforts.