HIV/AIDS treatment and care. Clinical protocols for the WHO European Region. 2012 Revisions

In 2010, new and important evidence emerged in the development of global recommendations on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for adults and adolescents, ART for infants and children, use of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for treatment of HIV-infected pregnant women and infants born to them in 2010. Consequently, a revision of region-specific clinical protocols on HIV/AIDS treatment and care developed in 2007 has been initiated.

While global WHO recommendations cover key global issues, regional and country adaptations are often needed in order to reflect regional context, existing infrastructure and health care system capacities. In the WHO European Region, countries of eastern Europe and central Asia have similar epidemic trends and HIV prevalence in different most-at-risk populations. Though they often have limited resources for HIV/AIDS response, their health care systems and resources are organized and better equipped than in many other resource-limited countries outside of the European Region.

The revision process included technical consultation with country experts, revision of available evidence, countries needs and capacity of health systems. Four of the five revised clinical protocols are now available in both English and Russian:

Protocol 1: Patient evaluation and antiretroviral treatment for adults and adolescents
Protocol 7: Management of hepatitis B and HIV coinfection
Protocol 10: Prevention of HIV transmission from HIV-infected mothers to their infants
Protocol 11: Paediatric HIV/AIDS treatment and care.

It is planned to release one more revised protocol in 2012:

Protocol 4: Management of tuberculosis and HIV coinfection