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MARIO RITTER: The World Health Organization says developing countries need a full plan of action for treating HIV. WHO officials say some groups of people are still unable to get the treatments they need.

Studies have shown that antiretroviral drugs extend the lives of people infected with HIV. The drugs can also prevent infection. This means countries may be able to slow the spread of AIDS. But some of those most in need of HIV treatment and prevention are unable to get them because of their social standing.

Gottfried Hirnschall is the director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS Department.

GOTTFRIED HIRNSCHALL: “We’ve seen in many countries that there remains stigma against certain population groups. And in some countries these behaviors of these groups are criminalized. Being a sex worker in many African countries is criminal behavior. Being an MSN in some countries is criminalized and obviously injection drug use is.”

The expression MSN means men who have sex with men. These men are one of the groups most at risk of infection.

GOTTFRIED HIRNSCHALL: “We see barriers for these individuals to access services. And we obviously see that as a consequence in many places these groups have higher infection rates. They have higher mortality, etcetera.”

BARBARA KLEIN: Another part of the fight against HIV/AIDS is the question of when to start treatment. In the early days of antiretrovirals, the drugs were usually given to people when the body’s defenses against disease had collapsed. A person’s health is measured by the CD4 count. That is the number of immune system cells a person has.

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