J Public Health Policy. 2012 Aug;33(3):309-16. doi: 10.1057/jphp.2012.16.
How much could US policies have reduced the initial growth of the epidemic had we moved earlier to institute Harm Reduction drug policies such as needle exchange programs for injecting drug users? The US Centers for Disease Control estimates 50 000 HIV infections annually in the United States (156 per million population), but the more populous European Union estimates 5000 (less that 10 per cent of the US incidence) - a measure of the failure of US prevention policies for HIV. The earliest official responses to AIDS in the United States expressed official fear and condemnation of victims and denial of the magnitude and seriousness of the population risks in the epidemic's early stages. These failures with AIDS prefigure current US crises in general health policies and interfere with efforts to successfully inform public understanding of the meaning and value of scientific evidence about health have diminished public confidence in credibility and trustworthiness of professional and political leadership for US health polices.
如果我们更早地采取减少伤害药物政策，如为注射吸毒者提供针具交换计划，美国的政策能在多大程度上减少疫情的最初传播？美国疾病控制与预防中心估计，美国每年有 5 万人感染艾滋病毒（每百万人中有 156 人），而人口较多的欧盟估计有 5000 人（不到美国发病率的 10%）——这是美国预防艾滋病毒政策失败的一个衡量标准。美国对艾滋病的最早官方反应表达了官方对受害者的恐惧和谴责，以及对疫情早期人口风险的规模和严重性的否认。这些艾滋病方面的失败预示着当前美国在一般卫生政策方面的危机，并干扰了成功地告知公众对健康科学证据的意义和价值的理解，从而降低了公众对美国卫生政策的专业和政治领导层的可信度和可靠性的信心。
