HIV drugs should be initiated earlier, says UN
Vienna, Jul 19 (AFP) The UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO) today issued the first overhaul of its guidelines on HIV drugs in four years, saying the therapy now saving more than five million lives should be initiated at an earlier stage of infection.
A phonebook-sized volume issued at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna confirmed and amplified a key recommendation made by the UN agency last year about earlier use of antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The 156-page report highlighted the leading role played by the famous drug “cocktail” in fighting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS.
The combination therapy, which was first introduced in 1996 but initially restricted to rich countries because of its then high cost, reached 5.2 million people in 2009, an increase of 1.2 million over 2008, the report said.
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