International AIDS Society

“About 33.2 million people are now living with HIV, of whom more than 30 million live in low- and middle-income countries. WHO estimates that at least 7 million of these people are in need of ART. As of December 2006, 2 million people had access to ART in low- and middle-income countries.” WHO

Getting HIV treatment can mean the difference between a few years’ health and real long-term benefit, where people living with HIV can plan for living a long-term natural life. People living with HIV want to know how their medical care can be optimized. There are a whole host of questions like when to start therapy, when to switch drugs, and how to maximize adherence, that need to be addressed by researchers. We need to understand the success of the current WHO treatment guidelines and know more about toxicity and side effects of drug regimens.

There remains an urgency to provide treatment as rapidly as is feasible in order to extend the duration of as many lives as possible and reverse the course of social collapse in many countries heavily afflicted by HIV/AIDS. There is also a role for sustained strategic clinical research to inform clinical practice around the world.

At the same time, scaling-up treatment in resource-limited settings continues to present clinical and financial challenges and rational methods for informing such efforts developed.

The "3 by 5" initiative, launched by UNAIDS and WHO in 2003, was a global TARGET to provide three million people living with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries with life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ART) by the end of 2005. This target was almost reached by end 2007. This target is an important stepping stone towards the ultimate goal of providing universal access to AIDS treatment to all those who need it.

To learn more about 3 by 5, treatment statistics and epidemiology, visit http://www.who.int/hiv/en/.