Implement HIV Drug Resistance Surveillance? A Review of Funded HIV Grants

immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and treatment programs worldwide. Since 2002, the Global Fund has encouraged grant recipients to implement drug resistance surveillance (DRS) as part of treatment programs. We reviewed documentation of 147 grants funded in 2004–2008 (funding rounds 4–8) to assess grantees ’ use of funds to support HIV DRS. Overall, 94 grants (64%) described HIV DRS as part of the national treatment program. However, only 32 grants (22%) specifically documented DRS as a grant-funded activity. This review provides baseline information suggesting limited use by countries of Global Fund financing to support HIV DRS. Additional assessment is required to evaluate barriers to using Global Fund grants to support DRS. Although World Health Organization (WHO) surveys of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug re-sistance (HIVDR) suggest that HIVDR rates remain limited at this time, HIVDR poses a threat to the success of antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs, endanger-ing efforts to scale up and sustain these programs ef-fectively. Ensuring the availability and appropriate us