So, now we know something about what HIV/AIDS is, but here is some information about what the usual treatment and medication plan is for those infected...

What is HIV antiretroviral treatment?

This is the main type of treatment for HIV or AIDS. It is not a cure, but it can stop people from becoming ill for many years. The treatment consists of drugs that have to be taken every day for the rest of someone's life.

Antiretroviral treatment for HIV infection consists of drugs which work against HIV infection itself by slowing down the replication of HIV in the body. The drugs are often referred to as:

• antiretrovirals
• anti-HIV drugs
• HIV antiviral drugs

What is combination therapy?

For antiretroviral treatment to work for a long period of time, it has been found that people need to take more than one drug at a time. This is what is known as Combination Therapy. The term Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is used to describe a combination of three or more anti-HIV drugs and has come to be a common usage among those infected with HIV.

When HIV replicates (makes new copies of itself) it often makes mistakes. That means that within any infected person there are a lot of different strains of the virus. From time to time, a new strain is produced that happens to be resistant to the effects of an antiretroviral drug. If the person is not taking any other type of drug, then the resistant strain becomes able to replicate quickly and the benefits of treatment are lost.

Taking two or more antiretroviral drugs at the same time really reduces the rate at which resistance develops.

What if HAART is unavailable?

When a person's immune system is damaged by HIV, then certain infections or cancers will develop that the body would normally "fight off" quite easily. These are known as opportunistic infections. Treatment for opportunistic infections is usually provided when antiretroviral are not available, or when the antiretroviral drugs are no longer effective as the HIV strain has become resistant to them.

Providing Drug Treatment for Millions: The Problem of Poverty and AIDS

When HIV/AIDS was in its first years of breakout, it was widely acknowledged that people infected with HIV living in developing nations would most likely die from AIDS. The problems of poverty, food and water supplies were so pressing that medication for such a disease wasn't even a consideration. This was especially true in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, where both HIV and poverty were and are vital issues.

Eventually, discussion was started about HIV and people began to really question why so many deaths were occurring when the drugs needed to prevent them were available. Why were these drugs - known as antiretroviral - so expensive? People in resource poor countries began demanding access to the medication that could save their lives, and at the UN General Assembly Meeting on HIV/AIDS on September 22nd 2003, the WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund declared the lack of access to HIV treatment a global health emergency.

So, at the UN World Summit in 2005, the world's leaders pledged they would try to achieve universal access to treatment by 2010. At this time, the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) countries pledged to ensure virtually universal access to ARV treatment worldwide the goal date.

As of June 2006, only a little over 1.6 million people living with HIV in developing countries are receiving antiretroviral treatment, compared to the nearly 7 million in need. Nevertheless, this figure is a huge improvement from the 2003 figures that showed only 400,000 people receiving treatment. At the UN General Assembly Meeting on HIV/AIDS on September 22nd 2003, the WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund declared the lack of access to HIV treatment a global health emergency. The most difficult stages of scaling up treatment access are only just beginning, and there remain a great deal of challenges to overcome in the future.

Source:

www.avert.org