WHO eyes ‘treat all’ approach for HIV
Print Edition
Everyone with HIV should be given antiretroviral drugs as soon as possible after diagnosis, meaning 37 million people worldwide should be on treatment, the World Health Organization said yesterday.
Recent clinical trials have confirmed that early drug use extends the lives of those with the AIDS-causing virus and cuts the risk of disease transmission to partners, the WHO said in a statement setting out the new goal for its 194 member states.
Under previous WHO guidelines, which limited treatment to those whose immune cell counts had fallen below a certain threshold, 28 million people were deemed eligible for antiretroviral therapy (ART).
All people at “substantial” risk of contracting HIV should also be given preventive ART, the WHO said.
The new guidelines are a central plank of the United Nations agency’s aim to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
“Everybody living with HIV has the right to life-saving treatment,” said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS.
“According to UNAIDS estimates, expanding ART to all people living with HIV and expanding prevention choices can help avert 21 million AIDS-related deaths and 28 million new infections by 2030.”
The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) welcomed the WHO’s “treat-all” plan, which it believes will prevent many HIV-positive people in poorer countries from falling through the treatment net.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
