The government of Uganda has started rolling out a HIV prevention method of taking an antiretroviral drug before exposure to HIV risk, reports New Vision.
An ARV pill, known as Truvada, can considerably reduce the risk of contracting HIV from unprotected sex if taken before exposure according to Dr Flavia Namatovu, a researcher with Makerere University – Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration (MUJHU).
The new HIV prevention method will initially be rolled out in seven places before spreading it to the rest of the country.
“Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an additional method of prevention and not a replacement of the already existing methods,” Namatovu warned. “It will work alongside condoms, abstinence and adherence to ART to suppress the virus, which reduces the chances of an infected person passing on the disease. And it is not for everyone, but for people at substantial risk of HIV acquisition.”
HIV positive person will not be helped since a single pill compromises the effectiveness of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART), since it is at a lower dose.
A PrEP trial that started in 2007 in six countries on four continents found that people, who took PrEP as prescribed, reduced their risk of infection by 99%.
South Africa became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to issue full regulatory approval of PrEP in December 2015, followed swiftly by Kenya and Rwanda in Africa.
World Health Organisation (WHO) released guidelines and a policy brief in 2015 recommending the drug to be offered as a choice to people who are at substantial risk of HIV infection.
