As this conference demonstrates, the global AIDS community has been undergoing a paradigm shift in thinking about AIDS -- from a short-term emergency to a long-term challenge requiring sustained effort. In large part, this means renewing a focus on HIV prevention as evidenced by the call to action released August 6 in the Lancet.

Embedded within the call to action is an increased focus on the need for linkages between HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health services, especially when it comes to reaching women and girls at risk of HIV infection. Just released UNAIDS data show that more women than men are living with HIV in Africa, and new infections are relentlessly increasing in women -- especially young women -- in every region of the world. But the call to action published in the Lancet could be much more explicit on the question of what must be done to provide girls and women with the services and information they need to be safe from infection.

In a nutshell, it's about taking advantage of what's already in place and what people are already using. The call to action points directly to the need to take advantage of long-established reproductive health services that today reach millions of women and young people in developing countries who are at the center of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. By virtue of their experience in providing a range of services -- including, sometimes, HIV services -- reproductive health service providers could make a significant contribution in closing the gap in HIV prevention. They have the capacity to provide:

• HIV prevention information and counseling, including information on correct and consistent condom use and counseling for couples who want to become pregnant where one partner is HIV-positive;
• HIV testing for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and referral for HIV treatment when necessary;
• Care before and during pregnancy, including referral for prevention of mother-to-child transmission services for HIV-positive women;
• Screening for violence against women and appropriate care and support; and
• Services that put women and girls at the center of prevention.

Billions of women and girls worldwide are HIV-negative. They have the right to stay negative. The world, including global agencies and national governments, cannot afford to miss the opportunities to strengthen HIV prevention by linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV services.