PrEP, a drug that reduces the risk of getting HIV, should be available online and through pharmacies, a charity has said.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The Terrence Higgins Trust has called for PrEP to no longer be classed as a special medicine and said it should be available online, in pharmacies and at GP surgeries. The charity said making the drug more widely available would help those “who don’t get what they need from under-funded sexual health clinics”.
The charity has said government plans to improve access to PrEP do not go far enough. Richard Angell, the charity’s boss, said: “PrEP – the pill taken by people who test negative for HIV to stay negative – is a game-changer in the battle to end new transmissions of HIV by 2030.”
He said not enough people have access to PrEP because the only way to get it is through “over-stretched” sexual health clinics “which have had to absorb significant cuts in funding year on year”. More than 60 per cent of people trying to access PrEP are “stuck on long waiting lists”, he said, which “raises the possibility of acquiring HIV in the meantime”.
He added: “There are serious inequalities by race, gender and age in who is offered PrEP and who is accessing it. It is often not discussed in the right way and at the right time. We can and must be more ambitious in tackling this. Sexual health clinics must be properly funded to remain a primary route to PrEP.”
The government has set a target of ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030. Mr Angell said if the goal is to be met, PrEP should not be treated “like a special medication that can only be prescribed in specialist clinics”.
“It should be available online, through pharmacies and potentially GP services too – and we must do better in promoting it to those who could benefit,” Mr Angell said. “This would go a long way in relieving pressure on sexual health services and provide a better service for many existing PrEP users. It would also make PrEP available to those population groups who don’t get what they need from under-funded sexual health clinics.”
According to the NHS, PrEP works by stopping HIV from getting into a person’s body and making copies of itself. Taking the drug correctly is important as a person is only protected from HIV infection if there are high enough levels of PrEP in the body, the health service said.
The drug can be used by anyone from a community or group that is most at risk of HIV, or people who have sex with people from those networks. The NHS said that people who may benefit from taking PrEP include HIV-negative men who have condomless sex with other men and anyone who has a partner with HIV.
The government today published a ‘roadmap for meeting the PrEP needs of those at significant risk of HIV’, in which it pledged to continue to invest in HIV PrEP and improve access to and uptake of the drug, which it described as “extremely effective at preventing HIV”.
The government said: “There is potential to improve access to HIV PrEP for all population groups at high risk of HIV, including GBMSM [gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men], women, trans and non-binary people, black African communities, and sex workers.”
It added: “We know that more work needs to be done to ensure PrEP is accessible for all groups, including concerted action from across the health system and civil society organisations representing key groups.
We also know that we need to improve our knowledge of tackling inequalities in PrEP access, uptake and use, and how potential barriers could be overcome….CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
