Guideline: Updates on HIV and Infant Feeding

The first WHO guidelines on HIV and Infant Feeding in 2010 recommended the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent postnatal transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. Since then, almost all countries prioritised in the UNAIDS ‘Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive’ have adopted the approach of promoting and supporting breastfeeding and the provision of lifelong antiretroviral treatment as the strategy to optimise HIV-free survival among HIV-exposed, uninfected infants and children. The 2016 guidelines provide two recommendations and two guiding practice statements and they comment on the implications for: (1) routine monitoring and evaluation, and (2) conflict and emergency settings.

Get on the Fast-Track: The Life-Cycle Approach to HIV

In this report, UNAIDS is announcing that 18.2 million people now have access to HIV treatment. The Fast-Track response is working. Increasing treatment coverage is reducing AIDS-related deaths among adults and children. But the life-cycle approach has to include more than just treatment. Tuberculosis (TB) remains among the commonest causes of illness and death among people living with HIV of all ages, causing about one third of AIDS-related deaths in 2015. These deaths could and should have been prevented.

Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free

Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free initiative aims to galvanize global momentum around a shared and ambitious agenda to build on the progress achieved under the Global Plan towards the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive. The Global Plan resulted in remarkable progress, reducing new HIV infections among children by 60% in 21 of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the job is far from done. In 2015, 150,000 [110,000–190,000] children became newly infected with HIV globally, 110,000 [78,000–150,000] of whom lived in the 21 Global Plan priority countries.

Namibia National ART Guidelines

Namibia's National Guidelines for Antiretroviral Therapy (5th Edition) incorporates the latest WHO guidelines for treating and supporting people living with HIV. These guidelines utilize the 90-90-90 targets to end global AIDS by 2030 as a vision to end the AIDS epidemic in Namibia. The plan discusses expansion of HIV treatment and prevention, management of PrEP, PEP, and other ART, viral load monitoring, and patient centred HIV care for special populations.