Skip to content

Easy-to-read and illustrated information on HIV drug resistance.

It's important to always take your HIV treatment at the right times and in the right amounts. If you don't, HIV may become drug resistant.

When HIV is drug resistant, some anti-HIV drugs do not work properly.

Download the digital leaflet

331.95KB
Drug resistance

Download the A4 leaflet

305.86KB
Drug resistance
Roger Pebody

Roger Pebody

Commissioning Editor

Roger joined aidsmap in 2008 and was Managing Editor from 2018 to 2024. As a freelancer, he now edits aidsmap’s news and conference coverage, as well as working on updates to About HIV pages. He is also a contributing science editor for TheBodyPro, a freelance journalist for The Lancet HIV, and a medical writer helping researchers prepare articles for peer-reviewed journals. He began working on HIV at Gay Men Fighting AIDS in the mid-1990s.

Basic information

How treatment works

How treatment works

HIV and the immune system

HIV and the immune system

Taking drugs on time

Taking drugs on time

How long will it take for HIV to develop resistance to my medications?

If I change HIV treatment and find that I don’t like my new meds, can I go back to the old ones?

My HIV is undetectable, can I stop my medication?

A white pill bottle is tipped over with white pills spilling out.

Resistance to anti-HIV drugs

Image: Domizia Salusest | www.domiziasalusest.com

Taking your HIV treatment

Taking your HIV treatment booklet

Adherence to HIV treatment

Image: Domizia Salusest | www.domiziasalusest.com

Changing HIV treatment

A man in a bathroom holding two bottles of medication and reading the label of one of them.

Blood tests before starting or changing HIV treatment

A close up of a person's arm while they are having their blood taken. The person taking the blood is wearing surgical gloves. We can see some of the blood is already in the tube.

HIV treatment as you get older

A man stands in a doorway smiling.

A to Z of antiretroviral medications

Antiretroviral drug chart