The government spends more than a million dollars a year on antiretroviral medication for approximately 1,600 people living with HIV in The Bahamas.

Health officials say, though, that expenditure could skyrocket if more and more people become infected. HIV treatment usually involves three drugs taken together.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that in most cases, a first line regimen should consist of two drugs.

In The Bahamas, the price of this drug regimen cost just under $500 per person annually.

But the antiretroviral drug combination could change.

One reason may be due to treatment failure; that is when the drugs have failed to work and are not slowing down the replication of HIV in the body.

According to health experts, the new second line regimen will ideally include at least three new drugs.

There is also a third line therapy, sometimes called salvage or rescue therapy, a term that describes treatment regimens for people who have few or limited anti-HIV drug options.

"The higher you go, the more expensive the drug," Director of the National AIDS Program Rosamae Bain said during an interview with the Bahama Journal.

"So, it?s really important for people to adhere to their?s doctor?s appointment, have the necessary bloodwork done and take treatment."

The cost of anti-HIV drugs has dramatically decreased in recent years primarily thanks to the Bill Clinton Foundation, which slashed the prices of 16 AIDS treatments in developing countries like The Bahamas.

It was back in 2003 that the Clinton Foundation and four pharmaceutical companies reached an agreement to reduce the cost of HIV/AIDS drugs and diagnostic tests by between 50 and 90 percent, making care and treatment much more affordable in about a dozen Caribbean nations like The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Agreements have also been reached in several African countries, among them Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania.

"Year?s ago, it cost $12,000 per person per year. Today, it?s just under $500," Nurse Bain explained.

"Because of this, we have been able to put an extensive amount of people on medication. In 2002, we had only 300 people on medication because of the astronomical cost. We must now look at getting the others into care."

Statistics show that there as a result of the medication, there has been a "drastic" reduction of 50 percent in the number of people who have died from AIDS in recent years.

"Albeit, 69 percent of all those who have developed full blown AIDS have died," Nurse Bain said.

At last count, 5,582 people were living in The Bahamas with HIV compared with the 1,767 infected with AIDS, a total of 7,349.

By Macushla N. Pinder