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NHS Pulls Plug on PrEPs


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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.

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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.

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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.

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​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.

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