Two doctors ask NHS England to fund PrEP for people at risk of HIV infection

published on July 5, 2016 in International Business Times

Two senior public health doctors have called on NHS England to fund pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in a bid to better prevent new HIV infections. Though PrEP has been shown to be a safe, effective and cost-effective method to protect people who risk getting infected, public health officials have refused to make it available on the NHS, claiming such an initiative should be the responsibility of local governments.

PrEP involves people who are at very high risk for HIV – such as men who have sex with men – taking a combination of two HIV medicines sold under the name Truvada, on a daily basis. The method has a track-record of helping prevent an HIV-negative person from getting HIV from a sexual or injection-drug-using partner who's positive.

Writing in an editorial published in the BMJ, directors of public health Jim McManus and Dominic Harrison are particularly severe in their criticism of NHS England.

They say that its rejection of PrEP "confounds its advocacy of a health and care system integrated around the best outcomes for the citizen and perpetuates an incoherent national approach to HIV prevention".

Achieving a coherent strategy

Since its introduction in the US in 2012 – when it was approved by the Food and Drugs Administration – PrEP has proven it was a crucial tool to establish an effective HIV-prevention strategy.

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Two doctors ask NHS England to fund PrEP for people at risk of HIV infection

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