Countries warned against increasing hiv drug resistance

HEALTH

COUNTRIES are being warned against the increasing trend of resistance to HIV drugs, in a new WHO HIV drug resistance report 2017 co-authored by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA.

Increasing HIV drug resistance trends could lead to more infections and deaths," according to a press release by WHO.

The WHO HIV drug resistance report 2017 shows that in six of the 11 countries surveyed in Africa, Asia and Latin America, over 10% of people starting antiretroviral therapy had a strain of HIV that was resistant to some of the most widely used HIV medicines.

Once the threshold of 10% has been reached, WHO recommends those countries urgently review their HIV treatment programmes.

The recent press release  shows an additional 135 000 deaths and 105 000 new infections could follow in the next five years if no action is taken, and HIV treatment costs could increase by an additional US$ 650 million during this time.

The Organization warns that this growing threat could undermine global progress in treating and preventing HIV infection if early and effective action is not taken.

In Uganda, authorities are being told to start administering drugs once the virus is detected in a patient.

HIV drug resistance develops when people do not adhere to a prescribed treatment plan, often because they do not have consistent access to quality HIV treatment and care. Individuals with HIV drug resistance will start to fail therapy and may also transmit drug-resistant viruses to others. The level of HIV in their blood will increase, unless they change to a different treatment regimen, which could be more expensive - and, in many countries, still harder to obtain.

The report states that of the 36.7 million people living with HIV worldwide, 19.5 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2016. ‘The majority of these people are doing well, with treatment proving highly effective in suppressing the HIV virus. But a growing number are experiencing the consequences of drug resistance," it said.

"Antimicrobial drug resistance is a growing challenge to global health and sustainable development," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "We need to proactively address the rising levels of resistance to HIV drugs if we are to achieve the global target of ending AIDS by 2030."

WHO is therefore issuing new guidelines to help countries address HIV drug resistance. These recommend that countries monitor the quality of their treatment programmes and take action as soon as treatment failure is detected.

"Tackling HIV drug resistance will require the active involvement of a broad range of partners. A new five-year Global Action Plan calls on all countries and partners to join efforts to prevent, monitor and respond to HIV drug resistance and to protect the ongoing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030." The report said.