Is Pakistan at the cusp of an ART resistance?

Only 10% of HIV positive individuals in Pakistan are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and the dropout rate from HIV treatment is extremely high. This short report attempts to highlight the risk of ART resistance. Pakistan National AIDS Control Programme's website reports 15,390 HIV posit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 2020-11, Vol.70 (11), p.2046-2047
Main Author: Altaf, Arshad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AIDS research
Anti-Retroviral Agents - therapeutic use
Antiretroviral agents
Drug resistance
Drug therapy
HIV infections
HIV Infections - drug therapy
HIV Infections - epidemiology
Humans
Pakistan - epidemiology
Patient outcomes
Prevalence
Testing
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Summary:Only 10% of HIV positive individuals in Pakistan are receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and the dropout rate from HIV treatment is extremely high. This short report attempts to highlight the risk of ART resistance. Pakistan National AIDS Control Programme's website reports 15,390 HIV positive persons receiving ART out of which 4,697 (30.5%) are people who inject drugs (PWIDs) among whom HIV prevalence is reported to be 38.4%. In the two large provinces of the country (Punjab and Sindh) with more than 90% burden of HIV, ART was initiated in 2,807 patients between April and September 2018, out of these 37% were lost to follow up. Many patients have cited issues related to quality of service at the ART centres as one of the reasons to not revisiting the treatment centres. HIV planners in Pakistan urgently need to make a new strategy and improve not only the quality of services but also increase the number of HIV positive persons receiving ART.
ISSN:0030-9982
DOI:10.5455/JPMA.30590