Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the use of HIV medicines to treat HIV infection. People on ART take a combination of HIV medicines (called an HIV treatment regimen) every day. ART is recommended for everyone who has HIV.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a combination of antiretroviral drugs for people starting HIV treatment: TDF (tenofovir) either 3TC (lamivudine) or FTC (emtricitabine) and EFV (efavirenz).
The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs in an attempt to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multiple drugs that act on different viral targets is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).