World Health Organization strongly recommends PrEP for all gay men

[tallbtm]

NPR is reporting:

July 11, 2014 -- The World Health Organization has announced a sweeping new guideline, recommending that all men who have sex with men take antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV infection [PrEP]. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a similar recommendation in May.

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/11/330760909/health-officials-push-hiv-prevention-pills

[precumlvr]

Maybe this will be the push Health Canada needs to approve PrEP in Canada.

[wood]

Quite simply this is HUGE. Until this PrEP has largely been a US idea, or been slowly studied in populations around the Globe. Hopefully with the endorsement of the WHO, all the naysayers will be put to rest, and PrEP can become a global prevention measure to finally slow the rate of new HIV infections in gay men and other at risk populations.

http://www.towleroad.com/2014/07/world-health-organization-endorses-prep-for-all-men-having-sex-with-men.html

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/key-populations-to-hiv/en/

Also I cant wait for Michael Weinstein's reaction to this. :grin::grin:

Edited July 15, 2014 by rawTOP

[Poz1956]

The World Health Organization DID NOT SAY "All gay men."

In the 184 page report titled Consolidated Guidelines on HIV Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Care for Key Populations, on page number 44 (66th page in the PDF)

Among men who have sex with men, PrEP is recommended as an additional HIV prevention choice within a comprehensive HIV prevention package (strong recommendation, high quality of evidence).

The Press Release titled WHO: People most at risk of HIV are not getting the health services they need says:

For the first time, WHO strongly recommends men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicines as an additional method of preventing HIV infection (pre-exposure prophylaxis)** alongside the use of condoms. Rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men remain high almost everywhere and new prevention options are urgently needed.

In the Policy Brief

Among men who have sex with men, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended as an additional HIV prevention choice within a comprehensive HIV prevention package. NEW RECOMMENDATION

Note that none of those three quotes contain the word "ALL"

As two examples of very sloppy, sensationalized reporting:

The Altantic ran with the headline The WHO Wants All Gay Men to Take HIV Prevention Medication

Time Magazine went with WHO Says All Men Who Have Sex With Men Should Take Antiretroviral Drugs

After the news reports with the torqued up headlines containing the word "ALL", the WHO emailed a clarification:

WHO is aware of incorrect headlines and reporting linked to its recent recommendations on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV.

WHO is not recommending that all men who have sex with men must take PrEP, but supporting it as an additional choice (see paragraph 5 of the WHO news release http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/key-populations-to-hiv/en/):

"For the first time, WHO strongly recommends men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicines as an additional method of preventing HIV infection (pre-exposure prophylaxis) alongside the use of condoms."

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a way for people who do not have HIV, but who are at risk of getting it, to prevent them getting HIV by taking a single pill (usually a combination of two antiretrovirals) every day. PrEP, when taken consistently, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92%. PrEP is much less effective if it is not taken consistently.

Rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men remain high almost everywhere and new prevention options are urgently needed.

Further information on the development of this recommendation can be found here:

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128114/1/WHO_HIV_2014.9_eng.pdf?ua=1

The new WHO consolidated on key population guidelines include a comprehensive range of recommendations for five key populations - from HIV prevention (including PrEP as an additional prevention choice), diagnosis and a full range of recommendation on all aspects of care and treatment. The guidelines also outline the critical enablers needed to addressed to allow people from key populations to access the services they need in a respectful, inclusive non-discriminatory way.

It's noteworthy, and important that the WHO has endorsed PrEP. It certainly adds more weight to arguments we can show the non-believers. The WHO and the CDC are two pretty powerful organization with a lot of gravitas. If we get a similar statement out of the European Union that should silence any doubters.

There is going to a lot of HIV related news over the next couple of weeks. The 20th International AIDS Conference is being held in Melbourne Australia from July 20th to 25th. I looked through the highlights, and saw a couple of interesting things , but no "Must See This" items. Sometimes the most important stuff comes out of the pre-conference session, or the smaller presentations not listed in the highlights.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Poz1956

[Guest pozarnoldPGH]

I wish WE all had some $  to invest in this BIG PHARMA POISON

[sexxxpigg]

I am glad I am on this "Big Pharma Poision."

[discreetmpls]

I wish WE all had some $  to invest in this BIG PHARMA POISON

 

Now that is just some drama.  What documented evidence can you show that this is "poisonous"?  Also, the "big pharma" that makes TRUVADA has all kinds of assistance programs to help with the costs.  They are just doing what every pharma does, making as much money as they can before the patent expires and it goes generic.  Once it's generic no one will be making any money off it anymore.  IMO, Gilead deserves to make a bit of money for investing in research for a drug that the mainstream isn't very interested in.

[bearbandit]

The protocol for prescribing PrEP in the USA seems to me to have all bases covered - I'm one of the rare people who fell foul of tenofovir's rarest and most dangerous side effect, at least partly by negligence on the part of my consultant. Alcohol can kill you pretty quickly, and different people have different lethal doses. Do we label that a poison? Morphine, even when used therapeutically, can kill you. Do we stop the use of morphine, an extremely useful painkiller? The most popular over-the-counter painkiller in the UK is paracetamol/acetaminophen which has an extremely low fatal dose. All we've done in the UK is make it illegal to sell more than two packs to someone, which is still enough to kill you.

The checks and balances on PrEP, the quarterly HIV test, the liver tests and the kidney tests, which have to be followed to get a legal prescription, are sufficient to ensure that if any trouble starts, cessation of truvada is all that's necessary to correct the problem. Meanwhile truvada just goes on saving people from catching HIV - yeah, sounds like a poison to me...

[XTF2020]

problem in the UK is that now the Proud study quotas are full they will not prescribe PreP for any others until they take on a new cohort, maybe in the New Year.  I know cos I asked at Dean Street last week and was told to keep watching the site for news of more volunteers needed.

[bubbachub420]

I don't understand how Truvada is some big conspiracy? If I weren't in an open relationship, i.e. if I didn't have to worry about status of my partners, I wouldn't be on Truvada. If I got HIV, I would have to be on Truvada PLUS ANOTHER anti-viral. I would have NO CHOICE, I would have to take HIV meds TO STAY ALIVE. As it is right now, if I get tired of taking Truvada, or experience bad side effects, etc. I can just go back to using condoms.

 

Where's the conspiracy?