WASHINGTON — Science now has the tools to slash the spread of HIV even without a vaccine — and the U.S. is donating an extra $150 million to help poor countries put them in place, the Obama administration told the world’s largest AIDS conference Monday.

“We want to get to the end of AIDS,” declared the top U.S. HIV researcher, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seen on multiple video screens as she speaks at the International AIDS Conference on Monday in Washington, D.C. “I am here today to make it absolutely clear the U.S. is committed and will remain committed to achieving an AIDS-free generation,” Clinton told the more than 20,000 scientists, people living with HIV and policymakers at the conference. The Associated Press

How long it takes depends on how quickly the world can adopt those tools, he said — including getting more of the millions of untreated people onto life-saving drugs that come with the bonus of keeping them from infecting others.

“No promises, no dates, but we know it can happen,” Fauci told the International AIDS Conference.

Part of the challenge will be overcoming the stigma that keeps high-risk populations from getting needed AIDS treatment and services.

“We have to replace the shame with love,” singer Elton John told the conference. “We have to replace the stigma with compassion. No one should be left behind.”

Some 34.2 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and 2.5 million were infected last year.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the goal is an AIDS-free generation. That would mean no babies would be born infected, young people would have a much lower risk than today of becoming infected and people who already have HIV would receive life-saving drugs so they wouldn’t develop AIDS or spread the virus.

“I am here today to make it absolutely clear the U.S. is committed and will remain committed to achieving an AIDS-free generation,” Clinton told the more than 20,000 scientists, people living with HIV and policymakers at the conference.

First, Clinton said it’s possible to virtually eliminate the transmission of HIV from infected pregnant women to their babies by 2015, by getting the mothers onto anti-AIDS drugs. HIV-infected births are rare in the United States and are dropping steadily worldwide, although some 330,000 children became infected last year. Clinton said the U.S. has invested more than $1 billion toward that goal.

The conference is focused on how to get treatment to all people with HIV because treatment can cut by 96 percent their chances of spreading the virus to sexual partners.

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