CD4 500 count cut-off under consideration

The current CD4 count cutoff in Botswana is 350.  Speaking during the New Directions in Global Health workshop on Monday in Selebi-Phikwe, US Ambassador to Botswana Earl Miller said the World Health Organisation has recommended that countries move to CD4,500 in order to get more people on treatment faster and save more lives.

He said the Anti-retroviral treatment is also a prevention measure hence moving to cell count of 500 would actually cut the number of new infections in Botswana by 22 percent. He added that most countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa had already adopted the recommendation.