This booklet is a summary of the BHIVA HIV treatment guidelines: a set of recommendations about how anti-HIV therapy should be used to treat people with HIV infection in the United Kingdom. Several of the subjects covered within the guidelines are not included in this booklet, a few examples being the side-effects of treatment including lipodystrophy, the syndrome of blood and body fat changes which can affect people taking HIV therapy; and detailed information on the treatment of HIV if you also have hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus (or both) (for more information on these subjects see the booklets Lipodystrophy, and HIV and hepatitis). If you would like to read the 2008 BHIVA treatment guidelines in full, they are available on www.bhiva.org.

BHIVA come up with their recommendations through a consensus-building exercise where advice is based mainly on evidence from clinical trials, and where there is no such evidence, on the opinion of HIV experts. This is because there is not enough scientific research to answer all the questions about the best use of HIV treatments. Research in the HIV field moves unusually quickly, which means that the guidelines summarised in this booklet should be seen as "best practice" based on what we know about HIV infection and its treatment at the moment.

These guidelines are not a recipe book for treating your HIV infection. HIV always requires individualised care, which is based both on your past and present state of health, and on the wider factors which influence your daily life.