Nigel Gordon Posted March 22, 2016 Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 The NHS in the UK has announced that it is no longer going to support the supply of Post Exposure Prophylactics for parties who may have been exposed to HIV. This is a reversal of what had been seen as a highly effective policy which had led to a decrease in HIV infection. There is now a petition about this and if you are a British Citizen I would ask you to consider signing it. The petition is at: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/113891 This is not something that just affects gay men who have a accident such as a burst condom during sex it also affects others, like the child who gets stuck by a discarded drug users needle in a play area. Link to comment
ChrisR Posted March 22, 2016 Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 Have they provided any justification behind their action? Are they declaring HIV is no more? Has the program grown too costly for the few who might benefit? Are they just throwing it out because they figure "you play, you pay"? Obviously none of this is a valid reason, but governments love to pretend we're all better for their action. Link to comment
Cole Parker Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 What is this policy currently costing them? Seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of supplying meds for victims of the virus. C Link to comment
FreeThinker Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 I would suspect that this is the result of the draconian budget cuts just proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who has dreams of succeeding David Cameron as Prime Minister. I see though there are protests against his budget even from members of his own Conservative Party. Link to comment
Nigel Gordon Posted March 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 Actually the block of Post Exposure Prophylactics seems to be an accident that has come about from the dropping of funding from Pre Exposure Prophylactics (these are actually the PrEPs the Post Exposure are PoEPs, I made a mistake above). The wording of the directive from the NHS is that treatment with HIV anti-viral drugs should only be provided where there is clear evidence of exposure. I believe this was intended to be a direction to stop the prescribing of Pre Exposure Prophylactics but its interpretation has been taken to include Post Exposure Prophylactics. The position of the NHS on Pre Exposure Prophylactics is that prevention is not part of their remit. That is a job for the public health authorities and should be funded by them. Link to comment
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