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Writer's pictureMr&Mr world

PrEP needs to be made more accessible to all – here’s why and how we do it

by Terrence Higgins Trust (gaytimes.co.uk)

Terrence Higgins Trust is urging the government
"to be ambitious, bold and unambiguous"
in tackling inequity of access to PrEP.

It’s been one year since we released our Not PrEPared report with partners National AIDS Trust, One Voice Network, Prepster, and Sophia Forum to examine the state of access in England to the highly effective HIV prevention pill Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) – and that state was poor.

The report surveyed 1,120 people who had tried to access PrEP in the previous 12 months and struggled to do so. Over half (65 percent) of respondents were totally unable to access the drug via an NHS PrEP service. We know from data presented at BASHH in 2019 that in one clinic alone, nine gay men who were on a waiting list to access PrEP through the PrEP Impact trial, acquired HIV while waiting for a trial space.

At the time, Dr Jewsbury from the Manchester clinic said: “In summary, we found nine preventable infections in patients that were motivated to take PrEP. It’s quite possible that if they lived in a different part of the UK or if PrEP had been commissioned in England, then these infections may have been avoided.”

So a year on, what has changed?

As we approach the end of 2023, it’s abundantly clear the full potential of PrEP has been curtailed by a sexual health system under continued extreme strain.

We don’t know how many people are currently not able to access a sexual health clinic to start PrEP. But of those who can get a foot in the door of the clinic, we know 121,547 people could potentially benefit from it. Reassuringly, 71 percent of these individuals started or continued to take PrEP. So, the system is still working for some people, if they can access it.


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