Japan/United States collaboration in international HIV prevention and care

At a time when funds for international HIV/AIDS prevention and care appear to be declining, coordinated efforts that maximize resource impact are critical. As leaders in the international community and the world's two largest donors of development assistance, it is appropriate for the United States and Japan to cooperate in global HIV prevention and coping efforts. These contributions can come not only from funding prevention and care programs and contributing research and technical expertise but also in setting international policy and standards applied for assistance in grant funding. As a basis for understanding the different roles of the two countries in the global response, the Japanese and United States domestic responses to the epidemic are briefly reviewed, followed by a discussion of past international efforts by both nations. The conceptual frameworks created by the Common Agenda, the Paris Summit, and the UN Joint Programme on AIDS suggest several policy and programmatic areas in which Japan/United States collaboration can have a major impact on the effectiveness of international efforts. These include placing emphasis on support for vulnerable communities and those affected by the epidemic, providing political and technical support for a coordinated international response, expanding the implementation of complementary bilateral HIV/AIDS efforts, and working together to improve research and training programs.