Webinar & Meeting Reports

WHO issued an “Early Release Guideline” on when to start antiretroviral therapy and on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV recommending initiation of ART in adults living with HIV, regardless of CD4 cell count, and the offering of PrEP as a prevention option to all people at substantial risk of acquiring HIV. If implemented, these sweeping recommendations have the potential to change the world by simplifying ART for people living with HIV and revolutionizing prevention for people at risk. There was a discussion and extensive Q&A period during this webinar.

This webinar was part of the ICAP Grand Rounds Webinar series. Fred M. Gordin, Chief of Infectious Diseases from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center presented.

The mission of the United States Conference on AIDS is to increase the strength and diversity of the community-based response to HIV/AIDS epidemic through education, training, new partnerships, collaboration and networking. Each year, thousands of front line responders from the domestic response to HIV and AIDS – including people living with HIV or AIDS, case managers, health care and public health professionals, concerned advocates and private sector partners come together to network with providers and researchers at all levels, exchange best practices and gain exposure to both new potential strategies as well as proven effective that have been tested in real world settings.

A critical first step in achieving the 90-90-90 targets proposed by UNAIDS is ensuring that 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status by 2020. This is an ambitious goal, as currently only half of people living with HIV know their status. The recently released WHO HIV testing guidelines address and respond to this reality. The WHO's Dr. Rachel Baggaley, unpacked the HIV testing guidelines and highlighted the need-to-know specifics of the new guidelines.