PrEP is a one-daily pill regimen that can help you stay HIV-negative.
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Citing data from the HIV/AIDS Anti-Retroviral Registry of the Philippines (HARP), Dr. Vingno said, the number new HIV cases in the country has increased by 1,038 percent in only 6 years (2008 to 2014). However, the health minister was quick to note that PrEP is still not as effective as condoms.
“PrEP only works if patients know about it, have access to it, and take it as prescribed”, said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, on the CDC website.
Yet doctors such as Paul Sax, clinical director of infectious disease clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, say they’ve seen an increase of awareness of PrEP in just the past six to 12 months. In France, an estimated 48% of HIV-positive people have detectable vital loads which can be transmitted to partners via condomless sex.
Since 2000, almost 1.3 million new infections among children have been averted, largely due to advances in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
PrEP is now part of a package of ways to prevent or sharply reduce the risk of HIV, Davids said.
The FDA has said PrEP carries few serious side effects and more common complications involving diarrhea, nausea and weight loss.
For these high risk categories and not only, PrEP treatment should be made widely available. “The fact that they are giving free HIV testing is beneficial to the community in the sense that it is providing reassurance to people who don’t have the infection and awareness who those who might”.
Increasing awareness of PrEP among the public and Global Positioning System, and counselling for those at substantial risk for HIV infection, is critical to realizing the full prevention potential of PrEP, according to the CDC.
PrEP, which costs roughly $10,000 per year, is also covered by Medicaid and the majority of private insurance plans.
A recent two-year study of American men on PrEP showed that half of participants contracted either syphilis or gonorrhea during the first year of the study. If Eve contracted HIV today, her condition would be treated as a chronic disease, not a death sentence and there’s every chance she might never have developed AIDS.
When taken consistently, Schuchat said, PrEP is “highly effective” in preventing HIV infection.
However, Eugene McCray, director of the HIV prevention division at the CDC, said that PrEP is sometimes not right for everyone.
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To accomplish these objectives, we need collaborative action. Among other tactics of preventing the spread of HIV are also condoms and disease screening.
