Posts
The Uganda Ministry of Health’s AIDS Control Programme
stated that Uganda had no plans to roll out pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for
uninfected people who were in a sexual relationship with an HIV-infected
partner (serodiscordant couples) despite evidence supporting the protocol’s
effectiveness. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a daily dose of
two antiretroviral (ARV) drugs (Truvada) to prevent HIV infection of an
uninfected partner, and clinical trials have indicated that PrEP reduced HIV
transmission by 73 percent. PrEPWatch, a Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention
(AVAC) Web site, asserted that Truvada was effective in reducing HIV risk from
“sexual exposure” among heterosexuals, men who have sex with men, and
transgender women.
According to Alex Ario, program manager in the Ministry of
Health’s AIDS Control Programme, the ministry’s technical committee rejected
the PrEP protocol because public misunderstanding of PrEP could encourage “reckless
sex,” and it was “morally incorrect” to administer Truvada as a prophylactic
measure when the ministry had not connected all HIV-infected persons to ARVs.
Ario emphasized that ABC—“Abstinence, Be faithful, and Correct and Consistent
Condom use”—would continue to be the foundation of Uganda’s HIV prevention
strategy.
Activists encouraged the government to rethink its anti-PrEP
policy, since HIV prevalence increased from 6.4 percent to 7.3 percent
throughout the last five years, and approximately 400 people acquire HIV daily
in the country. According to the Uganda AIDS Commission report, “Rolling Back
the Epidemic,” Uganda diagnosed 145,000 new HIV cases annually.
AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren stated that upcoming
PrEP demonstration projects would answer critical questions about best
practices for rolling out daily oral PrEP to high-risk populations. Warren
agreed that PrEP would not replace biomedical, behavioral, and structural HIV
prevention strategies, but could be a valuable tool.
