Yesterday, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China announced that following the latest technical standards published by the WTO and the suggestions made by domestic experts, it has decided to adapt the standard of free antiviral therapy offered to people with AIDS and further expand the treatment’s coverage.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission recommends that all AIDS-infected people and patients receive antiviral therapy. However, free antiviral therapy should be administered under the principle of voluntariness and the premise of pre-treatment consultation. The relevant medical organizations ought to try and eliminate the contraindications of antiviral therapy and not force people with AIDS to receive the therapy. They also need to further improve the standardized management level of the AIDS antiviral therapy, in order to strengthen the effect of the treatment and reduce the virus’s drug resistance.
At present, AIDS patients in China are treated under the policy of “Four Free Treatments and One Care”, including free antiviral therapy and regular check-ups. Since 2012, China has begun to implement a standard of free antiviral therapy for AIDS-infected people and patients. It is believed that the Chinese government will make efforts for the continued improvement of this standard in the very near future.
