HIV: treatment as prevention working

published on September 25, 2018 by Megan Haggan , in AJP

A record high of more than 90% of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men are achieving an undetectable viral load thanks to antiretroviral treatment

UNSW researchers have recorded an “encouraging” major shift towards newer forms of prevention of HIV transmission, thanks to government-funded access programs.

The researchers, from the university’s Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH) say 92% of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men are taking antiretroviral treatment and achieving an undetectable viral load.

The result is more than 90% of these men can no longer transmit HIV. This is a record high for the third year running.

The Annual Report of Trends in Behaviour 2018 was released by the CSRH at UNSW Sydney, alongside The Kirby Institute’s Annual Surveillance Report in HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia at the Australasian HIV/AIDS Conference in Sydney.

The report finds the proportion of gay men with casual partners who reported using the HIV prevention tool pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) before sex increased from 1% in 2013 to 5% in 2016 and then to 16% in 2017.

Project leader of the Gay Community Periodic Surveys at CSRH, Professor Martin Holt, said this increase was mostly seen during 2016-2017.

He says this suggests that PrEP uptake was boosted by access to state-funded PrEP programs in NSW, Victoria and Queensland in 2016.

“PrEP and treatment as prevention (TasP) are becoming increasingly popular HIV prevention strategies used by gay and bisexual men, particularly those well connected to the urban gay community networks,” Professor Holt said.

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