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HIV AIDS

Introduction to HIV/AIDS

What Needs to Happen

MSF is engaged in a number of activities in order to improve HIV/AIDS treatment and make it more accessible and affordable to all.

What needs to happen:

1. People who need ARVs must be ensured life-long access to the best possible treatment, and there must be affordable and available options when it comes time for people to switch drug combinations. This means making sure competition among multiple producers for the production of newer ARVs is secured.

MSF is fighting to make sure patents do not stand in the way of people being able to access the medicines they need to stay alive.

Promoting Generic Competition

2. Accelerate the development of newer and better medical tools:

Drugs – Push for appropriate and adapted AIDS drugs for the developing world. This means making sure newer drugs under development do not ignore the specific needs of people living with AIDS in developing countries. All new medicines should be produced in formulations appropriate for children and for pregnant women, and should not interfere with other medicines, such as those used to fight TB.

MSF demands that newer drugs under development are tested and adapted for the context where we work.

Diagnostics – Push for the development of simple diagnostic tests that are easy to use in resource-limited settings. A rapid test that can quickly determine whether a child under 18 months is infected with HIV is urgently needed. A simple CD4 test for adults to know when patients have to start treatment. Equally urgent is a simple ‘viral load’ test that can help monitor whether a person’s treatment is failing and they need to be switched to a different drug combination.MSF is working with several partners to accelerate the development of such tests, appropriate for use in settings where we work.

Push for Better Tools

Getting Ahead of the Curve

3. Push for the increased standardization and simplification of treatment protocols. This makes it is easier for patients to adhere to their treatment and for treatment providers to know which options they have to prescribe in order to ensure best results.

MSF actively participates in treatment standardization consultations at the World Health Organization, together with HIV experts from around the world. We draw upon our experience treating HIV in resource-poor settings in discussions over which treatment options would be best for use in the developing world.