If you know you are living with HIV then you have probably considered treatment at some point. Not everyone needs HIV treatment straight away and for some people it can be a long time before you have to consider treatment.
If you are pregnant and living with HIV you will be offered treatment after 6 months of pregnancy to reduce the chances that your baby will be born with HIV. Your child will also be given treatment for the first month of its life. If you want to know more about living with HIV and having a baby please go to our living with HIV page.
Most people who are living with HIV in Ireland will be offered treatment if they need it. Whether you need it or not is based on how low your CD4 count is (how many white blood cells you have).
Once you are diagnosed with HIV you will have a regular 3 month check up. This check up will include two blood tests; one to see what your CD4 count is and one to see what your viral load is.
Currently if your CD4 count gets below 350 you will be offered treatment.
Once you are on treatment you will have a regular 3 month check up to make sure the treatment is working well.
The treatment you will be offered is Highly Active Anti Retro-Viral Therapy or HAART for short. HAART is a combination of a few different (usually 3) anti HIV drugs. To learn more about HAART please go to our HAART page.