Earlier HIV Treatment Should Be Priority in Developing World

POZ: "Earlier initiation of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy should be the highest priority as global health experts begin implementing the 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for HIV treatment in resource-limited counties, according to a paper published last week in PLoS Medicine.

"'Immediate scale-up of the entire WHO guideline package may be prohibitively expensive in some settings,' said lead author Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. 'In many resource-limited settings, the relevant policy question is: What to do first?'

"Since 1981, AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, and about 33 million people—the vast majority of whom are living in low- and middle-income countries—are now living with HIV."