Programmes to scale-up HIV testing and treatment in countries in sub-Saharan Africa may have had less impact on new HIV infections than hoped, partly because they haven’t paid enough attention to groups that contribute disproportionately to HIV acquisition and transmission, experts say.

Greater efforts should be made to ensure that ‘universal test and treat’ programmes really are universal, they add. Programmes must reach young men, people travelling to look for work, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and other key populations.

Similar arguments are put forward by Dr Stefan Baral and colleagues in the September issue of The Lancet HIV and also by Dr Katrina Ortblad and colleagues in September’s Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS.

Several large cluster-randomised trials have also failed to show clear population-level benefits of universal test and treat policies. The studies differed, but in each one the intervention being tested included home-based HIV testing with referral of HIV-positive participants for immediate HIV treatment. Read more via AIDSmap