• Login
    Forgot Password?
  • Home
  • Welcome
  • Directory
  • Blog
  • Contact

PrEP, HIV, and the NHS: What You Need to Know

Home Health PrEP, HIV and the NHS: What You Need to Know

Categories

  • Business
  • Community
  • Culture
  • Health
  • Home
  • LGBT Rights
  • Life & Style
  • Parents
  • Retirement
  • Sports
  • Travel
  • Wedding
  • Youth

Featured

Green Light Retrofit
Helping reduce energy costs improve profitability with environmental responsibility...
Read More

Recently Added

Green Light Retrofit
Helping reduce energy costs improve profitability with environmental responsibility...
Read More
Your Perfect Wedding, wedding officiant
Your Perfect Gay Ceremony
You're standing in front of your Family and Friends prepared to make your dreams of a lifetime come true. It's at that moment that you are grateful that you have a professional guiding your ceremony. The Supreme Court has finally ruled upon this issue. Now is the time to plan your perfect LGBT Wedding. I have been performing Commitment Ceremonies since the beginning, and I am so pleased this has opened up for everyone to marry the one they Love. Contact Reverend Jacqui Weiks, Your LGBT Wedding Officiant
Read More
Garden of Grace United Church of Christ
Garden of Grace United...
We are an open and affirming, multi-racial and multi-cultural, assessable to all, peace and justice oriented body of faith. We go into the community and God's disciples. Grounded by the teachings of Jesus the Christ, we uplift Christ's goodness, create spiritual community, and care for God's people and God's world. Dynamic hope, incredible compassion, extravagant hospitality, and radical love are our core values.
Read More

Latest Posts

Daniel Pillai, He/She Project
Daniel Pillai’s He...

Daniel Pillai’s He/She Project Growing up in a traditional south Asian community in Canada, Daniel Pillai didn’t quite fit in. “There was an inherent non-acceptance to who I was and how I acted,” he says. “I stuck out like a sore thumb.” Pillai spent his childhood in what he calls a “conservative atmosphere,” surrounded by […]

Read More
addiction recovery treatment
Addiction Treatment an...

Addiction Treatment and the Recovery Process By Matt Gonzales, writer and researcher for DrugRehab.com Drug addiction is a chronic disease that affects your physical and mental health, job status and relationships. Once you’re hooked on a drug, your whole life revolves around it. Substance use disorders are common in the United States. Heroin use in […]

Read More
Orlando shooting victims bills to be forgiven
Who Pays After the Dev...

Who pays after the devastating Orlando shooting? After a tragedy, who pays the bill? There has been a lot of talk lately about medical costs and medical debt, even as the Affordable Care Act helps more Americans get the treatment they need without taking on crippling debt. Even with more people covered, medical treatment is […]

Read More
bisexual, bisexuality
Making a Strong Legal ...

Making a Legal Case for Bisexuality Bisexuality is widely misunderstood. Bisexuals are often dismissed or used as a punchline by the straight community and sidelined in conversations about LGBT rights and equality, often while experiencing many of the same struggles and setbacks as the rest of the queer community. And for some–like Ray Fuller, a […]

Read More
photo by Alexander Hassenstein / Getty | Olympic Coverage Criticized
Is Olympic Coverage Cr...

Olympic Coverage Criticized as Homophobic? One of the most memorable moments of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio didn’t occur during an event. Instead, just after the women’s rugby event on Monday night, Brazil’s Isadora Cerullo’s partner, Marjorie Enya, surprised her with a proposal. As reported by CNN, Enya said in her emotional speech “I […]

Read More
PrEP, HIV and the NHS

PrEP, HIV and the NHS: What You Need to Know

by Loz Kaye, Open Intelligence Think Tank Co-Founder

Another victory in the fight against HIV / AIDS has been won in the UK. The High Court ruled that the health service in England can fund PrEP (pre-exposure- prophylaxis), a daily pill which can prevent people being infected with HIV. This was following pressure from campaigners for Britain to roll out the “game changer” treatment. Why the controversy over PrEP, HIV, and the NHS?

Having claimed it did not have the power to provide the pill Truvada, NHS England argued that it was the job of local government which has control over preventative public health measures. The judge found this was not the case and the National AIDS Trust greeted the decision as “fantastic news”. You would think the issue with PrEP, HIV, and the NHS would be resolved.

PrEP, HIV, and the NHS Controversy

Sadly some of the reaction to the PrEP ruling seemed to come straight from the bad old days of the AIDS crisis. The Daily Mail fumed about a “promiscuity pill”, a “lifestyle drug” and “a skewed sense of values”. Others sought to pit different treatments and diseases against each other. Worst of all that included the NHS, warning of potential cutbacks to drugs for children with cystic fibrosis for example. What all the controversy ignores is the most important point. PrEP works.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV by up to 92%. One study conducted in San Fransisco found 100% of participants remained HIV-free. That’s not to say there aren’t issues about people taking pills consistently, as with any drug. But PrEP can have a crucial role to play if prescribed in a focused group of patients. The CDC modeled 33% of new infections could be avoided over 10 years with the right prescribing.
What all the funding controversy ignores is the most important point. #PrEP works. Click To Tweet

PrEP, HIV, and the NHS’s Priorities

PrEP is not about any individual’s “lifestyle”. Without a viable HIV vaccine, it is about the best option we have currently of eliminating HIV by halting transmissions. Preventing infection has to be a priority when numbers living with HIV continue to rise. Reversing that trend will be good news for gay and bi- men, but of course it will also be good for everyone. Our health is not separate from the rest of the nation, whatever the Daily Mail thinks.

NHS England’s response has been disappointing, particularly as they intend to appeal the ruling. We all understand the pressure on budgets, but they risk giving the impression they are not taking gay and bisexual men’s health seriously. This feeds the stigma which so frustrates the work on HIV / AIDS.

PrEP, HIV, and the NHS’s Goals for Health

This is the time for clear goals. Health service leaders should insist election promises of saving NHS funding are made good, not play one patient group off against another. Political leaders must realise that action on HIV is still needed, and PrEP will be part of that.
The health services goal for #HIV must be zero transmissions, zero deaths, zero stigma. Click To Tweet
The goal on HIV / AIDS has to be mission zero. Zero transmissions, zero deaths, zero stigma. If that’s not the goal of health services and government in the UK, and worldwide, they need to be honest. Because we will take up the fight again for the sake of our own health and everyone else’s.

Loz Kaye, Co-founder of Open Intelligence Think TankLoz Kaye has spoken widely on mass surveillance, digital rights and intellectual property, with appearances on the BBC, CNN and Russia Today amongst others. He’s based in Manchester where he is involved in community activities – in particular fighting for green space and supporting the LGBT community.

PrEP HIV NHS, CDC infographic

A CDC PrEP infographic from the Act Against AIDS campaign brochure.

Sign Up for our Newsletter

Other Articles to Read

  • Addiction Treatment and the Recovery ProcessAddiction Treatment and the Recovery Process
  • Prince Harry Brings a Big Focus to HIV TestingPrince Harry Brings a Big Focus to HIV Testing
  • Counseling Before Gay MarriageCounseling Before Gay Marriage
  • Healthy People 2020: LGBT HealthHealthy People 2020: LGBT Health
  • LGBT Integrative Health ResourcesLGBT Integrative Health Resources
Smart Gay Life|Health

About Us

Smart Gay Life, strengthening the LGBTQ community through news, information and support.
Choose smart. Live well.

Recent Tweets

  • @SmartGayLife August 31, 2017

    5 Fantastic Reasons for a National #Equality Day bit.ly/2ahEyEB #LGBTrights https://t.co/YVRnpQOnqG

  • @SmartGayLife August 31, 2017

    Roam if you want to > A Year of #LGBTQ Community Events: bit.ly/2adkbbE #LGBTtravel https://t.co/eX3dkuDcOG

  • @SmartGayLife August 31, 2017

    #HealthTips > How Older Gay Men Can #AgeWell: bit.ly/2b0iPOV https://t.co/5DnRLKQs0o

Recent Posts

  • Daniel Pillai’s He/She Project
  • Addiction Treatment and the Recovery Process
  • Who Pays After the Devastating Orlando Shooting?

Flickr Feed

Copyright © 2015 Smart Gay Life |