HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

View our poll archive

Taiwan's universal provision of antiretroviral drugs may be associated with a more than 50% reduction in the country's estimated HIV incidence rate, according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Chi-Tang Fang of the department of internal medicine at the National Taiwan University Hospital and colleagues analyzed national HIV statistics. Taiwan in 1989 established a national HIV surveillance system and in April 1997 established a program to provide antiretroviral drugs to all citizens. The researchers found that the estimated HIV incidence rate decreased by 53% after the country established its treatment program. However, there was no statistically significant change in the incidence of syphilis in the general population or among HIV-positive people during the same time period, according to the study. The lack of a change in syphilis incidence and the decrease in HIV incidence give evidence that the provision of drugs-- rather than a change in behavior-- is responsible for the decrease in HIV incidence, researchers say.

Editor's Note: from theBodyPro.com