The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that all people living with HIV worldwide should receive antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, and that those with “substantial” risk for the virus should be offered Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

These guidelines expand the estimated number of HIV-positive individuals eligible for treatment from 28 million to all 37 million people. Whether there will be resources to provide ARVs to that many people is another question.

In July 2013, WHO raised its benchmark of when people with HIV should begin treatment from having a CD4 count of 350 or below to 500 CD4s or below.

The PrEP guidelines WHO issued in July 2014 focused more narrowly on men who have sex with men.

Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that “WHO’s support for PrEP” validates “its place in the global HIV prevention armamentarium.” He presumes this support will likely “be another factor in favor of [PrEP’s] approval by various regulatory bodies.”