Young people in developing countries like St Lucia, are being encouraged to get tested for HIV so that they can get on medication as soon as possible. Doctors say that starting treatment early is crucial to achieve a long and healthy life. Doctors say young people on the latest HIV drugs now have near-normal life expectancy because of improvements in treatments. These newer drugs have fewer side effects and are better at preventing the virus from replicating in the body. It is also more difficult for the virus to build up resistance to the most recent drugs. However health officials say there are still too many people unaware they have the virus. This is particularly true in the developing world, where the majority of HIV deaths occur because access to drugs is limited.
