New Guidelines for Treating HIV in Pregnant Women

[Jim Allen]

Interesting read.

https://www.poz.com/article/new-guidelines-treating-hiv-pregnant-women
September 13, 2017

Unlike the World Health Organization’s public health guidelines, these are centered on the individual.

A panel of international experts has released a new set of guidelines for treating HIV among pregnant women, helping inform them about associated benefits and harms. Unlike recommendations that come from, for example, the World Health Organization, which are designed with such public health considerations as cost in mind, these guidelines prioritize the needs of HIV-positive pregnant women as individuals.

Publishing their recommendations in The BMJ, an international panel of women living with HIV, specialist clinicians and general practitioners based their guidelines on two systematic review papers published in BMJ Open that examined the benefits and harms of different antiretroviral (ARV) regimens for pregnant women with HIV. In crafting their recommendations, the panel sought to honor the values and preferences of such women.

The panel wound up recommending older ARVs rather than the most widely used HIV medications available today as a means of reducing the risk of premature birth and neonatal death.