As private, bilateral, and multilateral initiatives begin to fund antiretroviral therapy programs for HIV/AIDS patients living in resource-constrained settings, scientists and practitioners have cautioned that the clinical and epidemiological effects of implementing such programs must be considered.  The main concern is that of fostering premature emergence of widespread Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) drug resistance, thereby increasing short-term treatment failure rates and reducing the long-term durability of antiretroviral treatment regimes in developing countries.

This study was a fast-track study of 7 months and included one workshop and two committee meetings. The workshop presented case studies describing the implementation of antiretroviral therapy programs in resource-poor areas and the success or failure of such treatment for producing durable benefits. Presentations and papers detailed the clinical, scientific, ethical, and logistics information and experience in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean.

The workshop presentations and committee deliberations also considered the following issues related to introducing antiretroviral therapy in developing countries. 

1. an examination and evaluation of current HAART implementation programs, efficacy studies, infrastructure costing models, existing guidelines for program implementation, and models that demonstrate successful scale-up of antiretroviral therapy programs, 
2. a study of the role of on-going well-developed operations research in the field and in parallel with treatment implementation to establish sustainability outcome measures,
3. a determination of the components necessary for a systematic, structured framework to monitor resistance development and transmission of resistant strains while providing treatment in resource-constrained settings, and
4. an assessment of current research on antiretroviral drug resistance and toxicity (to include the likely effects on the malnourished individual with high disease burden found in resource-poor settings).