Women experience a better long-term immune recovery and a better survival on HAART in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Background In April 2003, Medecins Sans Frontieres launched an HIV/AIDS programme to provide free HAART to HIV-infected patients in Laos. Although HIV prevalence is estimated as low in this country, it has been increasing in the last years. This work reports the first results of an observational cohort study and it aims to identify the principal determinants of the CD4 cells evolution and to assess mortality among patients on HAART.