A Decade of HAART: The Development and Global Impact of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is a therapeutic intervention developed by clinicians and researchers in order to fight the HIV pandemic. It has contributed to a significant reduction in AIDS-related mortality and allowed many previously bed-ridden patients to live healthier, more productive lives. Until the advent of HAART in 1996, a diagnosis of HIV infection was considered a death sentence. A decade later, the disease has been transformed into a serious, yet potentially manageable, medical condition for thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS in the developed world - almost overnight creating a generation of "HIV Survivors" - and forged a global movement to ensure that its Lazarus-like benefit reaches millions more in the developing world.

This book reviews the achievements of HAART over the past decade, and explores the challenges that may arise in the future. It recounts key landmarks in the development and introduction of HAART from the perspective of clinicians, researchers, economists, sociologists, and public policy experts, including the co-discoverers of HIV, Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo.

José M. Zuniga is President/CEO of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care in Chicago, USA. Alan Whiteside is Director, Health and Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban in South Africa. Amin Ghaziani is Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow, Society of Fellows at Princeton University, USA. John Bartlett is a Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA.