Implications of adopting new WHO guidelines for antiretroviral therapy initiation in Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE: To assess the implications of implementing the World Health Organization (WHO) 2010 guidelines for antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation in adults and adolescents with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, which recommend initiating ART at a CD4+ T lymphocyte (CD4+) threshold of 200 but < 350 cells/mm³ FINDINGS: Adoption of the new WHO guidelines would increase the total number of patients on ART in the 19 health centres in Ethiopia by about 30%: from 3583 to 4640. CONCLUSION: The shift in the CD4+ threshold for ART initiation will substantially increase the demand for ART in Ethiopia. Since under the current systems only 60% of Ethiopia's patients in need of ART are receiving the medications, scaling up ART programmes to accommodate the increased demand for drugs will not be possible unless government funding and support increase concurrently.