Thailand has moved to test and treat regardless of CD4 cell count. Free.

No one knows if treatment of patients with high CD4 cell counts over 500 does patients more good than harm. This practice is not evidence-informed.

There is not a word about prevention in this article. Prevention seems to be unfashionable in the Land of Smiles.

Not a lot for Myanmar to learn from Thailand.

Jamie

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Patients to receive free HIV drugs
Mongkol Bangprapa
Bangkok Post
2 Oct 2014

The Public Health Ministry has started distributing free antiretroviral drugs to all HIV patients in a move to expand treatment coverage and place them under the state's monitoring system.
Previously, HIV patients would receive the drugs only if their number of CD4 cells — which mark the presence of HIV antibodies — decreased to 350, compared with 500 in normal people.
From Wednesday, all HIV patients would have access to the drugs without the need for a CD4 count, Deputy Public Health Minister Somsak Chunharas said on Wednesday.
Deputy Public Health Minister Somsak Chunharas enjoys a meal cooked by people with HIV/Aids at Victory Monument. The event is part of a campaign to end discrimination against people with the disease. Patipat Janthong
Better access to the drug would not only protect those with HIV from getting sicker, but would allow authorities to monitor the number of HIV and Aids-related cases more effectively.
"Such access will also cover registered foreign workers in Thailand," Dr Somsak added.
There are 460,000 HIV-Aids patients, but only 240,049 of them had access to antiretroviral drugs, according to ministry records.
Dr Somsak estimated that unconditional distribution of the free drugs will encourage at least 9,000 patients to show up in the first year.
The deputy minister was speaking while presiding at an event held by a network of HIV patients campaigning against discrimination.
They gathered at Victory Monument and cooked food for Dr Somsak and other participants in a gesture encouraging unity between patients and non-sufferers.
Dr Somsak insisted the disease could not be easily contracted during daily activities with HIV patients.
Unprotected sexual intercourse and sharing of syringes was the most common way HIV is spread, he said.
Dr Somsak admitted some companies still discriminate against HIV sufferers by requiring prospective employees to undergo blood tests.
This goes against the government's policy against employment discrimination on health grounds. The policy allows employees and job applicants to lodge petitions with the court if they are treated unfairly, he said.
Misconceptions about people with HIV often prevent sufferers from working and they are often reliant on the state's help, said Disease Control Department chief Sophon Mekhathon.
It will cost 400 million baht for the government to provide free antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients, he said.
Efforts to build a society in which patients and non-sufferers can live together happily require the public to stop discriminating against those with HIV.
Discrimination is still a concern, even though the government has managed to better manage new HIV cases and Aids-related deaths over recent years, Dr Sophon said.
The number of new patients is declining, with only 8,000 new cases last year.
Deaths have also decreased from 9,154 in 1999 to 673 in 2010 due to distribution of antiretroviral drugs, according to the ministry.

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