Gov’t urged to include pre-exposure medication in HIV prevention response

By Stabroek News On In Guyana News |
From left: Akola Thompson, a member of SASOD Women’s Arm, Director of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership on HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) Dereck Springer, Managing Director of SASOD Joel Simpson, and Principal Investigator Dr. Nastassia Rambarran at the launch of the findings of the assessment on Friday.
From left: Akola Thompson, a member of SASOD Women’s Arm, Director of the Pan-Caribbean Partnership on HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) Dereck Springer, Managing Director of SASOD Joel Simpson, and Principal Investigator Dr. Nastassia Rambarran at the launch of the findings of the assessment on Friday.

Following a survey of key populations, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) is calling on the government to include Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) as part of its combination prevention approach for adult HIV infections.

The Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Delivery Preferences for HIV PrEP among Key Populations in Guyana was conducted via focus groups in regions Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten, with financial support from the International HIV and AIDS Alliance’s Rapid Response Fund.

One of the key findings, presented on Thursday at a media launch of the assessment, is that in Guyana knowledge of PrEP appears to be minimal, with 60% of the 47 participants stating that they did not know of PrEP, while a significant number of those who claimed to be aware of the option were actually confusing PrEP with post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).