Antiretroviral treatment as prevention (TASP) of HIV and TB - programmatic update

HIV causes an infectious disease that, with the right prevention interventions delivered within a human rights framework, can be controlled and possibly even eliminated. WHO, UNAIDS and the United Nations General Assembly have called for 15 million people to be on ART by 2015. ART has considerable benefit, both as treatment and in preventing HIV and TB. It is certain that TasP needs to be considered as a key element of combination HIV prevention and as a major part of the solution to ending the HIV epidemic. In the short and medium term, while countries are concentrating their efforts on scaling up treatment according to the eligibility criteria recommended by WHO, it is expected that they will concurrently identify opportunities to maximize the use of ART for prevention purposes (TasP). The focus will be on specific populations in whom the prevention impact is expected to be greatest (e.g. serodiscordant couples, pregnant women, key populations). During 2012, WHO is issuing updates and guidance for these populations, and is working with countries to address programmatic and operational challenges to inform the consolidated guidelines to be released in mid-2013.