The WHO 2010 guidelines specify that a CD4 cell count is crucial to decisions about the eligibility of HIV-infected pregnant women for lifelong antiretroviral treatment (ART). In Malawi, however, access to CD4 cell count analysis is minimal.
For the past few months we have been working with our colleagues to prepare Malawi’s antiretroviral treatment (ART) scale-up plan for 2006–0. This poor landlocked country is gripped by a serious HIV epidemic. With a population of almost 12 million, Malawi has an HIV/AIDS burden the same size as that of the USA; nearly 1 million people are infected with HIV.
