Treatment guidelines
1 January 2023. Related: Professionals, Resources.
There are many national and international guidelines. These cover all aspects of how to manage and treat HIV and related complications.
- UK guidelines (BHIVA).
- Other UK guidelines.
- European guidelines (EACS).
- PENTA guidelines for children.
- US guidelines (DHHS).
- WHO guidelines for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Most guidelines outline best practice and minimum standards of care. They are developed from evidence-based medicine. They should also comment on new issues where the evidence is less clear. This will depend on expert opinion. It also depends on interpreting studies that report conflicting results.
Guidelines are only as accurate as the available research. This makes it important to check when they were written or last updated. Please always check the date they were produced and when they are due to be updated.
UK guidelines (BHIVA)
The British HIV Association (BHIVA) publish more than 15 current national guidelines.
They cover treatment and monitoring, including for complications (hepatitis, TB, cancer). They also cover prevention (PEP and PrEP). Please check the date of any guideline as sometimes updates take several years.
Three important guidelines are linked below.
- Treatment of HIV-1-positive adults with antiretroviral therapy (2022)
- Routine investigation and monitoring of adult HIV-1-positive individuals (2016) (2019 interim update)
- Management of HIV in pregnancy and postpartum (2018) (2020 third interim update) These guidelines focus on the health of both the mother and baby before, during and after pregnancy, including conception, use of HIV treatment, choices for delivery and feeding after the baby is born.
BHIVA also publish position statements on aspects of HIV.
The BHIVA website includes a section for archive guidelines.
Other UK guidelines
PEP guidelines are produced by the Expert Advisory Group on AIDS (EAGA), although these are rarely updated.
European guidelines (EACS)
The European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) produces guidelines on five aspects of HIV management.
- Routine assessment and monitoring
- ARV treatment
- Management of complications both from HIV and side effects from ARVs
- Co-infection with HBV and/or HCV
- Opportunistic Infections (OIs)
The October 2022 guidelines (version 11.1) are available online in English, in PDF format and also on an App. The online version, includes additional resources and tables that are not in the PDF booklet.
Translations are available, including in French, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
PENTA guidelines for children
The Paediatric Network for Treatment of AIDS (PENTA-ID) produce guidelines for antitretrovial treatment in children.
US guidelines (DHHS)
The US National Institute for Health (NIH) Department of Health and Human Sciences (DHHS) produce the following national guidelines for HIV.
These are currently the most frequently updated guidelines. Regular updates (at least twice a year) and changes to previous versions are also clearly highlighted.
- Adult and adolescent guidelines (2022)
- Perinatal guidelines (2022)
- Paediatric guidelines (2022)
- Prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections in adults and adolescents (2022)
- Prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections in children (2022)
- Covid-19 and HIV interim guidelines (2022)
World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines
The WHO produces over 40 guidelines on different aspects of HIV treatment, testing and care.
The most recent guidelines on HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations was in July 2022.