Recent developments in HIV treatment which have led to a medical consensus that it is advantageous to identify people who are infected before they develop symptomatic HIV disease.

If HAART is given before the immune system has declined to very low levels, it may be possible to maintain this favourable response indefinitely. Patients may be able to tolerate drugs better when they are asymptomatic, and may have lower levels of circulating virus which can be suppressed using fewer drugs. There is less likelihood that people in the earlier stages of disease will be taking other medication for opportunistic infections, such as TB, which interacts with antiretroviral drugs. Finally, treating people earlier in the course of disease is likely to be more cost–effective, because there is a greater chance that people without symptoms will be able to continue working and making contributions to the economy.

There are particular benefits to identifying mothers with HIV before they give birth, because antiretroviral therapy has been shown to reduce mother–to–baby transmission dramatically.