Regional technical consultation on the dissemination of "Consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection" in eastern European and central Asian countries

In July 2013, the World Health Organization released the "Consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection". In addition to clinical topics, operational recommendations have also been made on different modalities of service delivery as well as programmatic guidelines to assist countries and partners with their decision-making. The new guidelines expand eligibility criteria for antiretroviral therapy and increase the number of people living with HIV who need it under the new criteria.

A regional technical consultation on the dissemination of the consolidated guidelines in 12 eastern Europe and central Asian (EECA) countries was held in Turkey from 29 to 31 October 2013. It addressed the clinical, operational and programmatic aspects of the consolidated guidelines, countries’ current policies and their national plans to introduce and implement the new WHO guidelines. The presentations and discussions from the consultation are presented in this report.