Coming out of the PrEP closet

published on December 1, 2015 by Nathaniel Christopher, in Daily Xtra

When Jody Jollimore began using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) he quickly became acquainted with the stigma associated with the HIV-prevention strategy.  

“I remember coming out to a health care provider, a gay man who I would have thought would have been quite supportive about this,” he recalls.   “He got angry and his response was, ‘Well, Jody, I haven’t given up on condoms. I’m disappointed that you have.’

“I hadn’t given up on condoms but I had found another option that provided me with some flexibility,” he says.

  The experience forced him “into the closet” about using PrEP.

“I felt stigmatized by that, and internal stigma that I guess I placed on myself, and that’s the angle I want us to think about today,” Jollimore told the BC Gay Men’s Health Summit on Nov 5, 2015.

 PrEP has “opened up the door to have a conversation that hopefully is an honest conversation about condomless sex,” says Jollimore, a program manager at Vancouver’s Health Initiative for Men.

...

The stigma of PrEP is beginning to fade in places where PrEP use is more common — such as San Francisco, where a recent study of PrEP users found no one contracted HIV — says Mark Hull, a researcher at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

  “I think the stigma will fade away as this becomes a normative strategy that people can use to protect themselves or use as part of looking after their health,” he says.

Hull also reports an increased uptake of PrEP use in Quebec, which includes coverage for Truvada as PrEP in its provincial health plan.

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Mark Hull

BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Coming out of the PrEP closet

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