News
Progress and Problems in ART Rollout
Associated URL: http://www.retroconference.org/2010/Abstracts/37166.htm
The 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection is currently taking place in San Francisco. A recent study has been brought to the conference showing that whilst ARV rollout has expanded, a high proportion of people still die whilst waiting for medication. Aidsmap (www.aidsmap.com) reports:
"A study has shown that one-quarter of people on the waiting list for HIV treatment in the Free State province in South Africa die before receiving a single dose.
The research was conducted between 2004 and 2007. Patients were eligible for HIV treatment if their CD4 cell count was below 200 cells/mm3.
Overall, a quarter of eligible patients died before they received HIV treatment. Especially high rates of death were seen in men, and patients with a CD4 cell count below 25 cells/mm3.
Guidelines in South Africa now recommend that HIV treatment should be started when a patient’s CD4 cell count is around 350 cells/mm3.
But the research also showed that patients weren’t having their CD4 cell counts monitored frequently enough for treatment to be started promptly. "
Read the full study here:
Friday, February 19th, 2010
