Forty-two patients are currently receiving the Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment, a medicine used to prevent high-risk persons from being infected with HIV.
This was disclosed by the Programme Manager of the National Aids Programme Secretariat (NAPS) Dr Tariq Jagnarine.
The Ministry of Health late 2021 rolled out a comprehensive PrEP plan for persons who are at high risk of contracting HIV.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is a medicine that reduces a person’s chance of getting HIV from sex or injection drug use. PrEP is highly effective in preventing an individual from contracting HIV when taken as prescribed.
He also noted that PrEP had been expanded to all care and treatment sites; even private facilities offer this service.
“We have about 28 care and treatment sites in Regions One to 10, and all of those sites are offering it. We have at least 42 patients who would havebeen enrolled on PrEP.”
Although the response to this intervention has been good, Dr Jagnarine said he wants to see more persons in the vulnerable groups make use of this treatment.
“Even male sex workers if they can access PrEP to keep themselves a lot more protected and at the same time, we combine that with a combination approach.”
“We offer a lot of condoms; we’re now offering variated condoms, different sizes, different colours, messages on the condoms, and at the same time we offer contraception advice to our key population,” the Programme Manager added.
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