New direct-acting antiviral medications are more effective than previous treatments, as they are short in duration, easy to take, have few side effects and cure more than 90 percent of the people taking them, according to WHO. “This is a vast improvement from older treatments, which cured less than half of the people treated, required weekly interferon injections for up to 12 months, and often resulted in severe, sometimes fatal, side effects,” according to WHO.
Even though these new drugs are highly effective, their price vary dramatically in different countries, so WHO recognizes that implementation of the new guidelines may not be immediate.
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