WHO: Increasing Rates of Drug-Resistant HIV

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a warning of an increasing trend of resistance to widely used HIV drugs, based on data from national surveys conducted in several countries.

Specifically, in 6 of 11 countries surveyed from 2014 to 2016 in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, more than 10% of individuals starting antiretroviral therapy had strains of HIV resistance to efavirenz or nevirapine.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Based upon this data, WHO is recommending that countries with 10% or higher resistance rates review their HIV treatment programs and begin switching new antiretroviral users to other first-line therapy options.

“This new report shows a worrying picture of increasing levels of HIV drug resistance and, if unchecked, it will be a major risk to program impact,” said Dr Marijke Wijnroks, interim executive director of the Global Fund. “We strongly recommend implementing WHO recommendations for early warning indicators and HIV drug resistance surveys in every national plan for antiretroviral therapy, and to consider funding them through Global Fund grants or reprogramming.”

Along with its HIV Drug Resistance Report 2017, WHO has also released 7 key guidelines and normative tools, including:

• New guidelines on advanced HIV disease and rapid initiation of antiretroviral therapy recommending screening, treatment, and prophylaxis for major opportunistic infections.
• A report detailing how countries can provide tailored care for different needs of patient groups.
• A new technical update advising countries on what to consider when transitioning to a new treatment regimen.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

WHO urges action against HIV drug resistance threat [press release]. WHO. July 20, 2017. Geneva. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/hiv-drug-resistance/en/.