Difficulties Encountered with the Use of Antiretroviral Drugs in India

The improved availability and drastically reduced cost of antiretroviral therapy, largely due to generic manufacturing, has enabled an increased number of HIV-positive Indians to undergo antiretroviral therapy. But unless these drugs are used judiciously, treatment failures will cause the emergence of drug-resistant HIV strains. This is a grave danger not only to India but to the entire world. So far, antiretrovirals have had only a limited impact in India. HIV-infected patients require multidimensional care and the success of antiretroviral therapy depends on numerous economic, social, cultural, political, technical and infrastructural factors.