PrEP talk from Glasgow online as a webcast
21 November 2014. Related: General.
A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk about PrEP from a community perspective to the HIV conference in Glasgow.
The talk lasts for 20 minutes with questions afterwards and is now available as a webcast on the conference website. (Update: Now on Vimeo)
As part of the same session, Stefano Vella gave an excellent talk on Treatment as Prevention just before – also recommended. There are separate links for each talk.
PowerPoint and PDF versions fo the slides are available on the i-Base website, together with previous workshop resources.
Both PrEP and TasP are likely to help dramatically reduce stigma against HIV. Understanding their impact on transmission risk has the potential to normalise HIV. They both can contribute to removing some of the fear that persists in reducing the quality of people’s lives – whether they are HIV positive or HIV negative.
The talk looks at a few common myths about PrEP and makes the case that:
- PrEP is not driven by a commercial motives of drug companies.
- PrEP is clearly effective, perhaps more so than condoms, but only if you are able to take it.
- PrEP is most effective when used by people who are already at high risk from not using condoms. Even then, this might be for a short period in life. The demand for PrEP is not a challenge to the benefits of condoms. PreP is likely to be a choice that perhaps only a minority of people want to use.
Following early efficacy results announced last month from the PROUD and IPERGAY studies, there is an urgency to offer PrEP in the UK to those who otherwise are likely to test HIV positive next year.
Any feedback is appreciated.
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