Treatment
Medication used to treat HIV is commonly called treatment. Or antiretrovirals (
The aim of HIV treatment is to reduce the amount of HIV in your blood to undetectable levels, and to maintain those undetectable levels. Controlling HIV in this way with treatment allows your immune system to return to optimal functioning and prevents onward transmission of HIV (this is also referred to as undetectable=untransmittable or U=U).
HIV treatment has advanced considerably in recent years giving people with HIV have more advanced treatment options than ever. In Australia, today, HIV is no longer a terminal illness and is instead now considered a chronic manageable health condition.
Scroll down to find more information about HIV treatment as prevention can be found via the NAPWHA treatment fact sheet series.
HIV treatment
Information on which HIV treatments are currently available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in Australia are available from the ASHM website and via the PDF below.
Factsheet 1 – HIV Treatment Review
NAPWHA Treatment Factsheet 1: Are you on the best HIV treatment? There are so many different HIV treatments available today that everybody is now able to find a combination that is best for them.
Factsheet 2 – HIV Drug Resistance
NAPWHA Treatment Factsheet 2: Can you avoid HIV drug resistance? There is not one type of HIV about but rather a large population of mixed viruses, some of which are drug-resistant.
Factsheet 3 – HIV treatment clash
NAPWHA Treatment Factsheet 3: Are you heading for a treatment clash? Combined with HIV treatment, some drug combinations can cause serious side-effects and make one or both drugs ineffective or toxic.
Factsheet 4 – Treatment as Prevention (TasP)
NAPWHA Treatment Factsheet 4: How confident are you that HIV treatment is prevention? We always knew that treatment reduced the chance of passing on HIV, but proving that it eliminated the risk took some time.
Factsheet 5 – HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)
NAPWHA Treatment Factsheet 5: What does HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) mean for people with HIV? PrEP is having a more profound and personal impact on our lives than we imagine.
Factsheet 6 – How do HIV treatments really work?
There are five main families of HIV treatments currently available in Australia and each one attacks HIV in a completely different way. To understand how each treatment works, you also need to understand the life cycle that HIV goes through to replicate in your body.
MYLIFE + APP
Improve the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV
POSITIVE LIVING
For people living with and affected by HIV
