Approaches to antiretroviral therapy in China

China has recognized the threat of HIV to its population and responded with a national antiretroviral treatment (ART) program. However, high ART failure rates and the spread of resistance within populations are important realities to consider when developing and managing ART programs in China and worldwide. Concepts which will define treatment success and local and national programmatic goals are 1) access to ART, 2) durability of ART at the patient level, 3) scalability of treatment modalities, and the 4) sustainability of the program at the community or national level. In the face of limited resources, China must also consider when to start ARV therapy, which agents to use, when to switch them, and how to treat highly experienced patients with drug resistance. The optimal ARV regimen to start with is changing frequently with the introduction of new agents and the presentation of new data. Currently, a regimen including tenofovir, emtricitabine or lamivudine and a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor appears to have optimal characteristics to treat HIV/AIDS in China. However, critical to all of these choices is the evaluation of programs implemented to insure wide scale success. China has wisely begun this process of evaluating the performance of local programs through systematic monitoring and evaluation of treatment outcomes. This will allow regimens and programs that work to be expanded, and programs with high failure rates to be eliminated. In the end, evidence based data supporting treatment strategies will allow China to successfully confront its AIDS epidemic early and prevent its tragic consequences.