Viral load monitoring in resource-limited settings: a medical and public health priority

Authors: Nathan Ford, Teri Roberts and Alexandra Calmy

Excerpt: 

"In an era when millions of people are now on ART, the need to prevent and detect treatment failure has become a public health priority and the rationale that programmes can do without viral load becomes increasingly untenable. Rather than continuing to debate the relative cost effectiveness of viral load, efforts should shift towards implementing and evaluating the numerous options that exist to support increased access such that patients in resource-limited settings can benefit from the same minimum standards of care that are taken for granted in the west."