i-Base

2017: a year in review – why i-Base continues…

Polly Clayden and Simon Collins, HIV i-Base

A review of 2017 with the most important news and trends. Hyperlinks in the text are to articles from HIV Treatment Bulletin (HTB) in 2017.

Great news is always good to report…

Steady advances reported in HTB in 2017 were broadly categorised as great news. These are important given the political change and uncertainty over the year.

There was good news both within the UK and globally that will affect the majority of HIV positive people – especially the growing acceptance that undetectable viral load makes HIV untransmittable (U=U) and the impact of better treatment with new drugs and formulations and the wider use of PrEP. Together with earlier use of ART and more regular testing, many countries and regions are meeting some or all of the 90:90:90 goals and HIV incidence has dropped significantly when all these advances were available and easy to access.

We also reported on progress towards a cure and a vaccine, on new treatment strategies, and on complications linked to current treatment and side effects.

But in the interest of balance, we also had to report alternative good news (also known as bad news…) – showing that that none of the advances can be taken for granted. Overcoming AIDS is not inevitable unless we make it so.

Link to full review