Pill to prevent HIV, associations: “Serious stop of AIFA. Free prep immediately”
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Aifa has postponed the decision on free Prep, i.e. on the distribution paid for by the state for drugs used to prevent HIV infection. A choice that has brought into the field the associations that deal with AIDS and HIV but also those that protect LGBT+ rights. Together they launched the petition: “Free Prep now for everyone”.
“Aifa’s decision to postpone the go-ahead for free Prep, the highly effective pre-Exposure prophylaxis that prevents HIV, right in the last authorization step, is serious and unacceptable for a country like ours, which has signed up in the commitment to defeat AIDS by 2030 is a part of the UN. This stop, after others nothing done by Aifae of the Ministry of Health, confirms how Italy is one of the most backward and obscurantist Western countries in terms of prevention of AIDS ‘HIV is one of the few in advanced welfare that does not dispense this drug free of charge”, write the main associations committed against AIDS, from Lila to Anlaids, as well as Arcigay and Mario Mieli.
The suspension
The suspension was decided last Thursday 23 March by the CPR, the AIFA Price and Reimbursement Committee, whose task was exclusively to define the purchase price of the drug by our Health Service, to then be negotiated with the companies producers. The CTS, the Technical-Scientific Commission of AIFA, which certifies safety, indications for use and reimbursement of medicines, had in fact already given its green light.
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What is Prep
Approved since 2012 by the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) and in 2016 by EMA, the European Medicines Agency, the Prep consists of taking tablets, before and after exposure to the risk of contracting HIV (sexual intercourse without condoms, shared use of syringes).
The drug has already been used for some time to control HIV, so its tolerability, safety and efficacy are well known. If taken correctly, prophylaxis offers nearly 100% protection from infection: this is certified by all international health agencies (UN, UNAIDS, WHO, etc.) who recommend promoting access to PrEP as much as possible and the data proves it from countries where it is refundable. Among them: France, Germany, Spain Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom and many others.
Intended for people who have not already contracted HIV, Prep can be taken by anyone, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. In Italy it can be prescribed by specialists in infectious diseases but the costs are all borne by citizens: those for drugs (about 60 euros per pack) and often also those for the required diagnostic tests. The non-gratuity of the Prep constitutes an insurmountable barrier for younger people and for those groups of the population most exposed to the virus because they are socially (and therefore economically) more vulnerable.
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The petition
The associations underline that the lack of access to Pep will cause hundreds of new infections that could be avoided. The preventive power of Prep is also essential to reduce the human, social and health costs of lifelong HIV control treatments. “In Aifa – write the associations – we ask not to betray one’s mandate and autonomy and to proceed immediately with the green light, hoping that this postponement has not been influenced by the imminent reorganization of the Agency, by the renewal of bodies and offices or by the changed political climate. We ask Minister of Health Schilla to clarify what has happened and to solicit decisions that comply with international recommendations. We ask citizens to be by our side and to support us in this battle of civilization and rights by adhering to the petition: “Free PrEP now and for all@” that we launch today”.
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