Treatment

In April 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its guidelines for the prevention, care, diagnosis, and treatment of people with chronic hepatitis B infection, which are aimed at helping policymakers and healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries strengthen their efforts to address hepatitis B virus (HBV) and related national responses. The guidelines can also be used by civil society and community organizations to advocate for access to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HBV.  This fact sheet summarizes the primary messages and recommendations.

Marked inequalities and diverse epidemic trends affect progress in the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific. The HIV epidemic in the region disproportionately affects people from key populations, especially young people (aged 15–24 years), and their sexual partners. Download the regional factsheet to find out the most up-to-date HIV info, data and analysis.

UNAIDS new Global AIDS Update report shows 29.8 million of the 39 million [33.1 million–45.7 million] people living with HIV globally are receiving life-saving treatment. An additional 1.6 million people received HIV treatment in each of 2020, 2021 and 2022.

WHO’s sentinel surveys of acquired HIV resistance to dolutegravir among people receiving dolutegravir-containing antiretroviral therapy is intended for easy and frequent implementation. Results from sentinel surveys provide insight into the prevalence and year-over-year trends of dolutegravir resistance in adults, children and adolescents receiving dolutegravir-based ART.

This sentinel method is implemented complementary to WHO-recommended methods for estimating nationally representative levels of acquired HIV drug resistance. 

This global progress in identification of newer drug molecules that are more robust and less toxic, a significant reduction in the cost of therapy and innovative approaches to service delivery and increasing access to treatment have literally transformed the disease from a virtual death sentence in the early 1980s to a chronic manageable disease now.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health problem and cause of chronic liver disease that leads to approximately 399 000 deaths annually. In 2019, only 21% of the 58 million persons with chronic HCV infection had been diagnosed, and 13%, treated.

These guidelines provide updated evidence-based recommendations on the priority HCV-related topics from the 2018 WHO Guidelines for the care and treatment of persons diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C infection and the 2017 WHO Guidelines on hepatitis B and C testing.

National Guideline on HIV testing and treatment 2022 introduces new standards for viral load testing and viral load suppression. The guidelines also stress on community-based care of PLHIV with differentiated care approach which means less hospital visits for healthy PLHIV and more time to provide for critical patients.

The Consolidated guidelines on HIV, viral hepatitis and STI prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations outline a public health response for 5 key populations (men who have sex with men, trans and gender diverse people, sex workers, people who inject drugs and people in prisons and other closed settings). They present and discuss new recommendations and consolidate a range of recommendations and guidance from current WHO guidelines.

amfAR’s TREAT Asia program and three partner organizations initiated two Community Treatment Observatories (CTOs) to assess availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of services for HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) in India and Indonesia. It is hoped that the resulting analysis, available here, will help inform and advance advocacy priorities aimed at improving and expanding access to HIV and HCV services in the two countries.