Treatment FAQ

what is treatment as prevention

by Prof. Annabelle Goyette Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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What does treatment prevention mean?

Treatment as prevention (TasP) refers to taking HIV medication to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV. It is one of the highly effective options for preventing HIV transmission.Feb 24, 2020

How is treatment prevention?

Increasing the Number of People With HIV Receiving Treatment In order for treatment as prevention to work we need to increase the number of people on treatment. This can be done by increasing the number of people who access care and treatment and increasing the number of people who are clinically eligible for HAART.Jan 30, 2010

What is the difference between PrEP and treatment as prevention?

This process of taking ART, achieving undetectable status, and preventing the spread is referred to as treatment as prevention. PrEP on the other hand, is a way for people who do not have HIV to prevent infection by taking one pill every day.Jul 22, 2019

When did treatment as prevention start?

While TasP was initially seen as a means of reducing individual risk when the concept was first introduced in 2006, it was only in 2010 that evidence from the HTPN 052 study suggested that it could be implemented as a population-based prevention tool.Oct 24, 2020

What is the difference between treatment and prevention?

Preventive healthcare keeps you healthy in general, while treatment addresses a specific disease or problem that prevention can't completely eliminate.Sep 27, 2019

What are principles of treatment?

The principles of treatment are to reduce the effect and kill the cause of the diseases.

Is PEP same as ARVs?

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is the short-term use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to reduce the probability of contracting HIV after potential exposure, either occupational (through a work-related accident) or non-occupational (for example, during unprotected sex, rape, or the use of contaminated injection supplies).

When do you use PEP?

PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) means taking medicine to prevent HIV after a possible exposure. PEP should be used only in emergency situations and must be started within 72 hours after a recent possible exposure to HIV.

What drugs are in PEP?

These medications are called antiretrovirals. PEP is a combination of three drugs. You take them once or twice a day for 28 days: For adults, the CDC recommends tenofovir, emtricitabine (these two drugs come in one pill), and a third drug, either raltegravir or dolutegravir.Jan 6, 2020

Can a person on ARVs transmit the virus?

People living with HIV who take antiretroviral medications daily as prescribed and who achieve and then maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting the virus to an HIV-negative partner.Jun 12, 2020

What happens if you take ARVs while negative?

“When a HIV-positive person is given ARVs, it boosts their immunity, but when a HIV-negative person takes them, it just undermines their immunity and interferes with their body organs.”Jul 5, 2020

Should I take PrEP if my partner is undetectable?

PrEP and/ or condoms are not necessary to prevent HIV when the sexual partner living with HIV has an undetectable viral load. Having an undetectable viral load, using PrEP, and using condoms are all HIV prevention strategies that people can choose to use alone or in combination.

How does HIV help you stay healthy?

Getting and keeping an undetectable viral load * is the best thing people with HIV can do to stay healthy. Another benefit of reducing the amount of virus in the body is that it helps prevent transmission to others through sex or syringe sharing, and from mother to child during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding.

How does HIV medicine affect the immune system?

If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine reduces the amount of HIV in the body ( viral load) to a very low level, which keeps the immune system working and prevents illness. This is called viral suppression —defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood.

What is HIV medicine?

HIV medicine is called antiretroviral therapy, or ART. If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine reduces the amount of HIV in the body ( viral load) to a very low level, which keeps the immune system working and prevents illness.

What is the number to call for HIV testing?

Provides clinicians with around-the-clock advice on indications and interpretations of HIV testing in pregnancy, and consultation on antiretroviral use during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the postpartum period. 1-888-448-8765 | 24 hours, seven days a week.

Can HIV be transmitted to HIV-negative partners?

A person with HIV who takes HIV medicine as prescribed and gets and stays virally suppressed or undetectable can stay healthy and has effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to HIV-negative partners.

Can HIV be transmitted to a baby?

Substantially reduces, but does not eliminate risk. Current recommendation in the United States is that mothers with HIV should not breastfeed their infants. † The risk of transmitting HIV to the baby can be 1% or less if the mother takes HIV medicine daily as prescribed throughout pregnancy, labor, and delivery and gives HIV medicine ...

How does HIV treatment work?

In recent years, studies have shown that how well treatment as prevention works can vary, depending on several factors. These include: 1 Health care systems able to provide testing, linkage to care, and HIV drugs 2 Willingness and ability of people to get tested for HIV (HIV-related stigma and discrimination make people less likely to get tested) 3 Willingness and ability of people living with HIV to stick to their HIV drug regimens so that their viral load remains undetectable

Why is treatment as prevention important?

Treatment as prevention is important because it not only can positively affect the health and well-being of those living with HIV, but also serve to protect those who are not living with HIV.

Why is it important to keep viral load low?

Keeping their viral load low also helps people living with HIV feel better. A low viral load means a healthier immune system – which in turn prevents a person's HIV from progressing to AIDS, and prevents other health conditions. Issuu reader embeds.

Why do HIV negative women take drugs?

In the context of HIV and women, this means that HIV-negative women take HIV drugs to reduce their risk of getting HIV if they are exposed to it. This can be especially helpful when HIV-negative women whose male partners are living with HIV want to get pregnant.

What is a tasp?

Treatment as prevention (or TasP) refers to ways in which we can use HIV drugs, or HIV treatment, to lower the risk of transmitting HIV. For people living with HIV, one of the benefits of taking HIV drugs is that the drugs can reduce their viral load (amount of virus in their blood), thus making their blood, vaginal fluids, breast milk, ...

Why is PMTCT not used anymore?

However, there are also many advocates and women living with HIV who feel this term fuels stigma and should not be used anymore, because the language implies that a mother intends or wants to transmit HIV to a baby.

How long after exposure to HIV can you take PEP?

For PEP to be effective, it must be taken as soon as possible after exposure to HIV – within the first 72 hours if possible .

What is undetectability in HIV?

Undetectability ensures that infection does not necessarily have an effect on a person's general health, and that there is no longer a risk of passing along HIV to others. Consistent adherence to an ARV regimen, monitoring, and testing are essential for continued confirmed viral suppression. Treatment as prevention rose to great prominence in 2011, ...

Why was HIV treatment so expensive in the 1990s?

For many countries, especially low- and middle-income countries, the overall cost of treatment in the 1990s and early 2000s was too expensive for infected patients to afford it. In addition, individuals with low incomes in United States struggle to pay high prices set by pharmaceutical companies for antiretroviral drugs. As a result, it was implausible for a global treatment system or policy to be put into place since no universal HIV/AIDS test and medication regimen existed and due to technology and wealth disparities worldwide. However, with the advent of rapid HIV testing (including self testing), viral load testing, and effective ART regimens at less than $100 per year treatment scale up (read widespread implementation of TasP) is now a reality in many settings.

What is the TasP recommendation?

TasP's legitimacy has influenced the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2015 shift from "test and wait" to " test and treat" recommendation, which push to alert as many people as possible of their HIV status through testing, and start people infected with HIV on ARVs, no matter their viral load or CD4 count.

What is ART therapy?

In relation to HIV, antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a three or more drug combination therapy that is used to decrease the viral load, or the measured amount of virus, in an infected individual. Such medications are used as a preventative for infected individuals to not only spread the HIV virus to their negative partners ...

How does treatment as prevention work?

Treatment as prevention has been used as a form of controlling the spread of HIV since the mid-1990s, initially in the context of preventing the transmission of the virus from mothers to their children. Research in 1994 revealed how the drug zidovudine can reduce vertical transmission. The testing and treatment of HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding has since led to the reduction of the risk of transmission by up to 95%. A program for offering ARVs for life to any HIV-positive pregnant person called "Option B+" served as a precursor to the "test and treat" strategy that is now being rolled out in various countries. Assessments of the Option B+ program are able to aid in the improvement and further establishment of "test and treat".

What is a tasp?

Treatment as prevention (TasP) is a concept in public health that promotes treatment as a way to prevent and reduce the likelihood of HIV illness, death and transmission from an infected individual to others. Expanding access to earlier HIV diagnosis and treatment as a means to address the global epidemic by preventing illness, ...

What are the challenges of scaling access to treatment?

Challenges to scaling access to treatment include cost and drug resistance. However, modeling studies suggest that the costs of not providing access would be far greater and concerns regarding resistance have not been borne out despite tens of millions of people accessing treatment.

What is HIV treatment?

All of this is referred to as preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). PMTCT is also known as preventing perinatal or vertical transmission. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nowadays, if a mother takes HIV drugs while pregnant and has an undetectable viral load, the chances of transmission to her baby are less than one in 100.

What does PrEP stand for?

PrEP stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. It means taking medicine before being exposed to something to prevent yourself from getting a disease or condition. In the context of HIV and women, this means that HIV-negative women take HIV drugs to reduce their risk of getting HIV if they are exposed to it. This can be especially helpful when HIV-negative women whose male partners are living with HIV want to get pregnant. Research has shown that PrEP is a promising tool for women to prevent HIV infection without their partners' cooperation. For more information on PrEP, please see our fact sheet on PrEP for Women.

How long does it take to take PEP?

For PEP to be effective, it must be taken as soon as possible after exposure to HIV – within the first 72 hours if possible.

Is HIV treatment a prevention?

While treatment as prevention is often discussed solely in the context of treating people living with HIV, there are also opportunities for treatment to serve as prevention for HIV-negative people.

What is ISSUP in medical?

The International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP) , supports the transformation of research into practice by promoting evidence-based prevention and treatment interventions and the training and credentialing of a drug demand reduction workforce.

What is ICUDDR in education?

The International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR) facilitates networking among universities to promote high quality education and training in the field of addiction prevention, treatment and public health interventions.

How many drug users are there in Afghanistan?

There are an estimated 2.9 to 3.6 million drug users in Afghanistan — one of the highest per capita rates in the world.

How does substance use affect the world?

Beyond the toll drugs take on health and welfare, substance use disorders undermine economic development, diminish social and political stability, and reduce security in countries and regions around the world.

Where is UTC training?

The UTC is being trained in over 50 countries around the world. As a result of INL-funded training programs, several countries including Kenya, El Salvador, The Bahamas, and Indonesia have adopted national and international-level certification standards for addiction counselors.

What is CEA in health?

CEA is thus one measure of efficiency in health: by ranking interventions in terms of their cost-per-QALY (i.e., their cost-effectiveness ratio ), CEA shows how to get the most health-related bang for our buck. Interventions with very small ratios (i.e., low costs per QALY) are said to be very cost-effective.

What is Daniels's new positive argument for treatment's limited priority?

Daniels's new positive argument for treatment's limited priority focuses on the fact that those in need of treatment are often "clearly worse off" than those who can benefit from prevention (189). Specifically, they are worse off in having much higher baseline risk.

What is Russell's thesis?

Russell's boldest and most intriguing thesis is that "the balance between prevention and cure, at least in the medical sector, may not be so far wrong after all" ( 75). This claim stems from studies (some by Russell herself) that show prevention and treatment are by and large equally cost-effective . Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) ...

How many deaths would a 5% discount rate treat?

The philosopher's appraisal can seem almost self-evident when one learns that a 5% discount rate will treat one death today as equivalent to 1 billion deaths in 425 years (246, n. 1).

How many marksmen are in a firing squad?

Firing Squad 1 (FS1) has 1,000 marksmen pointing their guns at one innocent person tied to a post. Only one marksman has live bullets in his gun (the others have blanks). Firing Squad 2 (FS2) has 1 marksman with live bullets standing before 1,000 innocent people tied to numbered posts.

What is cost effectiveness analysis?

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a health economic framework that compares a given intervention's monetary cost with its expected health benefit. Health benefits are usually measured in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), which combine quality-of-life and longevity into one metric by multiplying a given health state's quality score ...

What is the Judeo-Christian tradition?

The Judeo-Christian religious tradition emphasizes aid to the sick and helping the medically indigent. Countering these claims supporting treatment priority are philosophical analyses and one religious tradition that show why arguments for treatment priority are tenuous.

Is prevention worth a pound?

Everyone knows the old adage , “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” but we seem not to live by it. In the Western world’s health care systems, we often bemoan the “fact” that prevention is underfunded compared to treatment.

Is prevention more effective than treatment?

Most prevention is cost-effective, but no more so than treatment, and little prevention is cost-saving. Benefit/risk thresholds for prevention perhaps ought to be higher than treatment. Priority for treatment reflects the power of compassion, driven by vividness of immediate need.

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Overview

  • Treatment as prevention is a concept in public health that promotes treatment as a way to prevent and reduce the likelihood of HIV illness, death and transmission from an infected individual to others. Expanding access to earlier HIV diagnosis and treatment as a means to address the global epidemic by preventing illness, death and transmission was ...
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HIV Prevention Trials Network clinical trial 052

  • Early work by Quinn in Uganda demonstrated that transmission was reduced by over 90% when people living with HIV were on treatment and virally suppressed. Observational evidence accumulated and the Attia metaanalysis supported the 2008 Swiss Statement that said that those suppressed on treatment had little or no chance of transmission. Many experts, citing the Bradf…
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Implementation

  • Treatment as prevention has been used as a form of controlling the spread of HIV since the mid-1990s, initially in the context of preventing the transmission of the virus from mothers to their children. Research in 1994 revealed how the drug zidovudine can reduce vertical transmission. The testing and treatment of HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeedi…
See more on en.wikipedia.org · Text under CC-BY-SA license

Challenges and risks associated with Treatment as Prevention

  • While TasP has a huge potential to prevent the further spread of HIV worldwide, the major barrier to implementing TasP is lack of political will. Specifically, estimates suggest that only around 60% of all resources for HIV go towards ensuring diagnosis and treatment while the rest is spent on other priorities. In some African countries multiple billions of dollars have been allocated with so…
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Short-term and long-term solutions

  • Global Fund
    In 2002, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was a financial initiative developed to raise and provide funding to the developing world in an attempt to enhance their care and treatment programs for individuals who are living with HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. For
  • PEPFAR
    In 2003, in an attempt to promote the importance of HIV research and funding, George W. Bush enacted the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, committing the United States government to authorize $15 billion to support HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over a five-year per
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Moving forward

  • Treatment as prevention has the ability to shift the paradigm of how HIV is received and treated. The effects of universal testing and treatment, and connecting people with resources for care will allow for global effects in terms of reduced rates of new HIV infections. The success of TasP is contingent upon innovation in strategies to increase the rate of HIV testing, along with exploring …
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