The basics of HIV prevention have been known for many years and sporadic reports reach consistent conclusions regarding the most efficient ways of preventing the disease and therefore restricting its spread from person to person. The number of people who live with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains on the increase, affecting approximately 730,000 people in the 27 member states of the European Union.

The European Union said recently that a "correct and consistent use of condoms remains the most effective means of HIV prevention through sexual transmission, and provision of sterile needles and injecting equipment and substitution treatment are the most effective means of HIV prevention through injecting drug use,"

Whilst this is proven fact, a number of European nations are staunchly Catholic and therefore the advice is contentious in such countries as Ireland, Italy and Poland. The Vatican has long held the view that sexual abstinence is the ideal method and whilst completely effective it could also be argued that it is also unrealistic as an option amongst young people.

The recommendation to use clean needles is also controversial amongst those who maintain that this policy simply encourages the use of illegal drugs. Again one might argue that this is simply ignoring the blunt truth that a major cause of the spread of the AIDS virus is sharing unclean needles and that therefore there is a simple solution to prevent infection and spread of the disease.

The EU Commission continues to favour a three point attack on preventing the spread of AIDS which includes improved education, improving testing and targeting high risk groups such as intravenous drugs users, homosexuals and immigrants.

The disease still has considerable stigma attached and this tends to inhibit awareness campaigns and the willingness to undergo testing despite the known lethality rates amongst those infected. It is thought that around 30% of those with HIV are completely unaware of the fact and this makes the spread of the disease almost inevitable if safe sex is not practiced, such as the correct use of condoms and regular testing, particularly amongst high risk groups.

Carriers have also suffered from discrimination due to a lack of education about AIDS and how it can be spread, despite repeated attempts by many European governments to deliver high profile and expensive education campaigns.

The disease has been fought by individual governments and it is thought that some members of the European Union should combine resources and information to help prevent further spread of the virus across member states. Some estimates put the number of infected people at over 1 million in EU countries in the next five years and some governments have made available specific funds to try and push the number of infections into a decline.