Access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the WHO European Region 2003-2005.

Aims: To assess changes in access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between the end of 2002 and the end of 2005, and to review the capacity for further HAART scale-up in the then 52 Member States of the WHO European Region.

Methods: Analysis of data from four surveys evaluating access to HAART, supplemented by regional estimates of the number of people receiving HAART. Changes in access to HAART are evaluated in terms of changes in the number of people receiving HAART over time and changes in country-level HAART coverage.

Access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for injecting drug users in the WHO European Region 2002-2004.

Providing equitable access to highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) to injecting drug users (IDUs) is both feasible and desirable. Given the evidence that IDUs can adhere to HAART as well as non-IDUs and the imperative to provide universal and equitable access to HIV/AIDS treatment for all who need it, here we examine whether IDUs in the 52 countries in the WHO European Region have equitable access to HAART and whether that access has changed over time between 2002 and 2004. We consider regional and country differences in IDU HAART access; examine preliminary data regarding the injecting status of those initiating HAART and the use of opioid substitution therapy among HAART patients, and discuss how HAART might be better delivered to injecting drug users.