Antiretroviral treatment

Maung Myint, a HIV and TB patient, tells us about his struggle to get life saving treatment in Myanmar. To help patients like Maung MSF launches a new report on the dire lack of treatment for HIV and TB in Myanmar, as donors slash future funding. Kyaw Kyaw* is 21 years old and weighs just 23kg. His CD4 count is 168, below WHO criteria for enrollment on ART, but due to overwhelming numbers of patients even sicker than he is in its Yangon clinics, MSF is not yet able to start him on the lifesaving treatment. *name has been changed. Photo: Greg Constantine Maung Myint, “I believe ART will be able to give me a normal life. I dream to be healthy again,...

In 2006 the drug company Novartis took the Indian government to court over its patent law, in a move that threatened access to affordable medicines produced in India for millions of people across the developing world. The company wanted to get the law changed so that they could more easily extend the patents on their products, and stop generic companies producing the same medicines at a fraction of the price. MSF’s Drop the Case campaign, launched in response to this move, gathered nearly half a million signatures calling on the company to drop its case. But six years later, the legal battle continues. India’s Supreme Court is now due to give the final judgement on the case this year. MSF has renewed its campaign call for the...

South Africa’s Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum warns *NOTE: The Budget Expenditure Monitoring Forum [BEMF] is a group of civil society organisations concerned with HIV/AIDS funding in South Africa and the Southern African region. BEMF includes SECTION27, the Treatment Action Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières South Africa, the Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa, the Free State AIDS Coalition and World Vision.   JOHANNESBURG –The shock announcement by the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria that financial shortfalls forced the cancellation of its Round 11 of new grants threatens to run back the clock on the gains made in the fight against HIV. The Global Fund financial...

For people living with HIV the greatest battle is having a normal life. Up to a decade ago without readily accessible antiretroviral treatment this was unthinkable and HIV and AIDS was seen as a death sentence. Three MSF’s patients from Chiradzulu share their personal testimonies of living in good health for the last 10 years on treatment two MSF medical staff talking about preventing the transmission of HIV from mother to child, and the future challenges for HIV care in Malawi.   Read MSF’s report: 10 Years of antiretroviral treatment in Malawi by MSF 10 Years of ARVs in Malawi A brief overview of MSF's 10-year HIV treatment programme in Chiradzulu, Malawi...