TREAT Asia has pioneered the first database to assess the natural history of HIV disease in treated and untreated patients throughout Asia and the Pacific. In an unprecedented regional collaboration on HIV research, 17 clinical sites in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand are using standardized methods to collect anonymous patient data.

The information gathered through the TREAT Asia HIV/AIDS Observational Database (TAHOD) is intended to inform the development of more effective research and treatment programs, and ultimately could help to define treatment standards for Asia and the Pacific—standards that may differ from those in Europe and the U. S. The database seeks in the long term to improve HIV clinical data collection throughout the region, assist in evaluating new HIV treatments, monitor antiretroviral and prophylactic treatment as it relates to demographics and markers of HIV disease stage, monitor toxicity related to antiretroviral therapy, and examine HIV’s natural history, including the relationship between access to antiretroviral therapy and disease progression.