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For the very first time a team of researchers has come together to lay out a framework of best practices to optimize the role of a clinician in achieving an AIDS-free generation.

According to the press release, the guidelines integrate both cutting-edge biomedical advances and evidence-based behavioral interventions for the care of people living with HIV or at high risk for HIV infection.

The recommendations have been developed by an expert volunteer panel assembled by the International Antiviral (formerly AIDS) Society–USA (IAS-USA).

The recommendations have been based on a comprehensive review of data that was either published or presented at the scientific conferences over the past 17 years.

"The tools to prevent HIV infection and disease progression are better than ever, but providers need encouragement and support to integrate best practices in communication and counseling with the biomedical measures that can render patients less- and ideally non-infectious," says Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at the University of Washington; medical director of the Seattle STD/HIV Prevention Training Center; a co-chair of the IAS-USA panel; and corresponding author of the paper, in the press release.

The recommendation underscored the fact that the availability of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) has changed the lives of millions of individuals living with HIV. The therapy thus has been successful in transforming HIV from a fatal infection to a manageable chronic disease.

"We are at a time where scientific advances in HIV allow us to effectively implement interventions that could stop HIV transmission," said Carlos del Rio, MD, chair of the Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research, co-chair of the IAS-USA Panel, and a member of the IAS-USA volunteer board of directors. "But the success of both biomedical and behavioral HIV prevention measures depends on clinicians' ability and willingness to implement them."

The guidelines will be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).