Taking exception to Richard Holbrooke’s recent assertion that we must focus on expanding HIV treatment and care programs worldwide, Daniel Halperin, a senior research scientist at Harvard’s School of Public Health, posits that prevention is the only hope to turn back this devastating disease.

In an op-ed published in today’s Washington Post, Halperin points to recent studies that indicate a somewhat surprising ineffectiveness of AIDS testing as a measure to counter the spread of the disease.

For one thing, he says, there is “little evidence that knowing one’s HIV status fundamentally alters behavior. A few studies have found some modest changes in behavior among those who test positive, but most trials unfortunately show that people who discover that they are not infected with the virus continue acting as the did before being tested – despite the obvious danger to themselves and to others.”

In addition, a large percentage of AIDS infections – about half according a report out of Uganda – are transmitted during the “window period” when recent infection fails to register a positive result on an AIDS test. And many African women report increased violence and abandonment by their partners when they test positive and then disclose it to their partners.

Halperin believes that the most effective strategy to combat the disease must “mention the central role that multiple sexual partnerships play in infection rates.”

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