The Latest Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) Briefing - Antiretrovirals and Prevention

via Treatment Action Campaign, by Catherine Tomlinson and Nathan Geffen

Exciting new evidence has demonstrated the potential of antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) to prevent HIV from being sexually transmitted. This TAC briefing explains the evidence and then discusses policy implications. 

 

Our recommendations

1. The WHO must release its guidelines on serodiscordant couples.
2. People living with HIV should be offered highly active antiretroviral treatment (ART) when their CD4 counts fall below 350 cell/mm3, or if they have an AIDS illness or TB.
3. HIV-positive people in serodiscordant couples should be offered ART irrespective of their CD4 count.
4. For serodiscordant couples trying to conceive, both partners should be offered ARVs until conception is confirmed, after which the HIV-positive partner should continue on ART.
5. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should be made available to sex workers.
6. In other cases, pre-exposure prophylaxis should be made available to HIV-negative people who request it or who will --in the opinion of their nurse or doctor-- likely benefit from it.
7. The rollout of ARVs for prevention must not divert funding away from treatment programmes. Achieving universal access for people with HIV must remain the priority for governments, policy makers and funders.
8. Effective prevention interventions such as voluntary medical male circumcision and ensuring availability of male and female condoms continue to be critically important.

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[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position.]