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Commentary: HIV "Treatment upon Detection" should be Publicized Widely

On June 15, the National Health and Family Planning Commission issued the Notice on Adjusting Criteria for Free ART, requiring to recommend ART for all HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients, i.e. "Treatment upon Detection". Moreover, ART should follow the principle of voluntariness and must not be provided compulsively. CDCs and designated ART hospitals at all levels should further standardize ART management.
On June 8, the UN member states adopted a political declaration to scale up fight against HIV and end AIDS epidemic by 2030. The HIV "Free Treatment upon Detection" strategy adopted by China is a positive reaction to the political declaration.
In China, there has always been a problem in HIV/AIDS response; that is, HIV-infected persons are detected too late, and many of them develop into AIDS at the time of detection and lost the opportunity of early treatment. In fact, early detection and early treatment can help AIDS patients prolong life and improve the quality of life, and also can reduce the infectivity of AIDS patients and the number of new HIV infections, which is key to HIV/AIDS response.
According to the criteria in 2014, only HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients with CD4 (a type of human immune cells) count < 500 cells/μl were eligible for free ART. The new criteria do not define any threshold for CD4 count, and implement the "Treatment upon Detection" strategy, which is a good news to all HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients.
Promoting the "Treatment upon Detection" strategy is an active advocacy for early detection and early treatment of HIV/AIDS cases, and can shorten the duration from HIV infection to ART and reduce the risk of HIV transmission. To benefit more HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients, this new policy should be widely publicized to raise public awareness.
Although the "Treatment upon Detection" strategy follows the principle of voluntariness and must not be provided compulsively, relevant departments and health facilities should play an active role to detect HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients and persuade them to receive free ART. In reality, some HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients intentionally conceal their illness due to fear of privacy exposure or social discrimination, which is not only inconducive to their timely treatment but also increases the risk of HIV transmission to others. These HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients must not be provided with free ART compulsorily, but efforts should be made to persuade them to receive ART.
It should be noted that the implementation of the "Treatment upon Detection" strategy will lead to a significant increase in the number of HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients who receive ART, and thus more ARVs and funds are needed. Thus, the government should increase funding input in this regard; otherwise, hospitals may refuse to provide free ART to HIV-infected persons and AIDS patients. (Source: JKB.com.cn, June 20, 2016)