Provide PrEP to all vulnerable groups if you want to eradicate HIV, advocacy group  tells FG 

Provide PrEP to all vulnerable groups if you want to eradicate HIV, advocacy group  tells FG 

  • Says daily intake reduces the risk of HIV from sex by 90%

 

Durueke at the training session last week

In order achieve  “zero level”  HIV/AIDS infections or keep it to the barest minimal in Nigeria, the Federal Government has been urged to provide Pre- exposure prophylaxis popularly known as PrEP, to all vulnerable groups and not only discordant couples in Nigeria.

It has been observed that the drug, Truvada, has been approved by government but it is not readily available to all vulnerable groups. These vulnerable groups has been itemized as men who have sex with men, MSM, discordant partners, people with high number of sex partners, commercial sex workers, transgender individuals, adolescents among others.

This was one of the concerns raised last week at the ongoing five-week training of journalists organised by an advocacy group, the New HIV and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS), which kick off in April at their head office in Lagos.

PrEP according to experts is one of the HIV prevention strategies which involve use of antiretroviral medications, ARVs, to reduce the risk of infection in people who are HIV negative.

Speaking during the second edition of the training, NHVMAS Program Director, Mrs. Florita Durueke, said it is advisable for all the people at very high risk for HIV to take the medicines daily to lower their chances of getting infected.

She noted that in late 2015, the World Health Organization, WHO, recommended PrEP as an additional prevention option for HIV negative people at substantial risk of HIV.

She said that daily intake of PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90 percent while it reduces the risk among people who inject drugs by more than 70 percent.

Durueke said: “PrEP is highly effective for preventing HIV if used as prescribed, but it is much less effective when not taken consistently.”

However, she said before a HIV negative person should consider taking PrEP, there has to be thorough education on do’s and don’ts involved with it. She said there must be support system and proper assessment and she advised that PrEP is not an alternative to condoms rather; they can go hand in hand.

Durueke said: “Daily oral PrEP is safe. There were no significant side effects observed in PrEP trials to date.”

However, she noted, resistance to PrEP drugs can arise if the person starts PrEP with undiagnosed HIV or if he or she acquires HIV and keeps on taking PrEP afterwards.

“As long as someone has a confirmed HIV negative diagnosis and is taking PrEP consistently and correctly, along with periodic HIV testing, there’s little risk of getting HIV and of acquiring drug resistance,” Durueke said.

 

About author

You might also like

FG’s reads riot act to striking health workers: ‘Get back to work or else…’

Prof. Adewole Minister of Health The ministry of health has directed striking health workers to resume work immediately or be declared to have absconded from duty. Health minister Isaac Adewole

Lassa fever cases on the rise in Ebonyi – Medical organisation  

Says hand washing, efficient way of preventing spread An International Medical Organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, MSF, has raised the  alarm over the rising cases of Lassa fever in

Geneva Learning Foundation, RBM Partnership in new collaboration to end malaria

Initiate ‘Teach to Reach’ partnership to engage community-based health workers The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) has announced a new collaboration with RBM Partnership to End Malaria (RBM), focusing on integrating

0 Comments

No Comments Yet!

You can be first to comment this post!

Leave a Reply