HIV Treatment Guidelines Ghana

Gana's national guidelines for treatment of HIV were published in 2006. The document below presents a national approach that integrates the principles of ART for adults, pregnant women and children. Treatment criteria for adults include CD4 counts below 250 or clinical stage three or four of the disease. Infants under one year old—regardless of clinical or immunologic status —and children over the age of one with CD4 counts on clinical stage 3 or 4 based on World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, are eligible for treatment. Advanced or “severe” immune suppression, as defined by age-related CD4 percentage count (according to WHO criteria), are also eligible for treatment. These guidelines also provide a third treatment option called “salvage” should second line treatment fail. Post-exposure prophylaxis, ART prophylaxis in the context of PMTCT, and co-infection with TB and viral hepatitis are also included in this document.