In the UK, the NHS has been prescribed a drug that dramatically reduced the chances of being infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a pill taken by people who are HIV-negative but at high risk of the virus. The drug has proven extremely effective in reducing the danger of the infection by about 86 per cent.
Currently, in the UK, over 100,000 people are living within HIV; the virus is largely concentrated among certain key populations, including men who have sex with men and black African populations.
Scotland is the first country with the UK to make the drug widely available on the NHS, as statistics revealed that every year there were 360 new cases of HIV. In the first year, 1,872 individuals were prescribed PrEP, 99 per cent of those were men having sexual intercourse with men.
Professor David Goldberg, consultant in public health medicine and clinical epidemiology, said: “Sexual health service teams should be congratulated for successfully implementing an exciting new measure which has the potential to be a game-changer in the UK’s drive to eliminate HIV.”
Claudia Estcourt, an expert in sexual health said: “Anything that reduces one’s risk of contracting HIV has got to be a huge milestone.”
However, health experts have warned that this pill could lead to a rise in other sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhoea and may encourage people to have unprotected sex and not use contraception.
Moving forward the NHS want to focus on other groups who could benefit from PrEP, such as women and transgender people.
Here at Harrow Health Care, we offer a series of Sexual Health Screening packages. For further information click here https://harrowhealthcare.co.uk/our-services/sexual-health/.
