The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that people infected with HIV should start their treatment as soon as possible. The organization also issued new treatment and prevention guidelines to make more patients eligible for the treatment.
The current guidelines qualify only 28 million HIV patients on antiretroviral drugs whose immune systems had reached a certain level of damage. However, recent studies suggest that it would be more beneficial to provide early treatment. It would lower the risks of AIDS or death by 35 percent and prevent the transmission of the virus to their partners, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The revised guidelines would increase the number of people who would receive HIV treatment by nine million.
Prior to the revision, recommendations for early treatment were limited to gay men, prostitutes, people with infected partners and a few others. Now, women and girls from poorer countries and places like Africa will benefit from the early treatment as well, the New York Times reported.
"With its 'treat-all' recommendation, WHO removes all limitations on eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV; all populations and age groups are now eligible for treatment," WHO said in a news release.
Many HIV/AIDS advocacy groups are welcoming the new guidelines although cost and funding weren't discussed. There were estimates that the current fund must be tripled to support the change.
"HIV care has to move out of clinics and into the communities with mobilized, empowered and engaged people living with HIV that actually are part of the response. This will need effort and money," Dr. Tom Ellman, a director at Doctors Without Borders in southern Africa, told CNN.
"Nobody's going to end AIDS with business as usual," he added.
WHO estimated that the new guidelines would prevent 21 million deaths and 28 million new infections by 2030. As of 2014, there are 36.9 million people living with HIV and 2 million new infections; about 1.2 million deaths were related to AIDS.
