PLOS Medicine | February 14, 2020
Read the PublicationTo support delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ART) at scale, the World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted a public health approach to HIV treatment and care. Recognizing the critical importance of streamlined, standardized approaches to scaling up HIV services in settings with limited resources, the public health approach emphasizes strategies such as task sharing, decentralization and integration of HIV services with other public health programs, and patient and community empowerment. The public health approach also prioritizes streamlined clinical and laboratory monitoring, standardized first- and second-line treatment regimens, and harmonized monitoring and evaluation strategies. In high-income countries with more resources and fewer HIV cases a more individualized approach to HIV care is favored, although the overarching framework of the public health approach provides the setting within which this more personalized service delivery can occur.