Last week UNAIDS released two reports -- its annual World AIDS Day report "Results" and the bi-annual "Global Report on the AIDS Epidemic." Both reports have one message: The pace of progress is unprecedented.

History shows when we take action before the peak of disaster, enormous gains can be realized. If more world leaders support a bold plan like the "Blueprint for an AIDS-Free Generation," we could find ourselves on the flip side of the global disaster of AIDS that much faster.

Without scaled-up financing, more targeted programming and expanded political will, the beginning of the end of AIDS will remain a distant ambition. But with concerted action, the world can chart a course towards ending this pandemic.

No one would have faulted Agbaje and Waheedah for surrendering to their HIV status, but instead they persevered, becoming activists in their own right.

As employees of mothers2mothers, mothers living with HIV are trained to educate and support newly-diagnosed pregnant women -- to help them stay healthy and take the necessary steps to avoid transmitting HIV to their babies.

In the last thirty years there has been no respite in the fight against disease: not for patients, not for doctors, not for researchers. I strongly believe that the fight against AIDS can be won.

Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Mozambique has a high HIV rate, reaching nearly 20 percent among some sectors of the population. In Mozambi...