The Economist final week had in hopeful article on methods to interrupt the cycle of HIV transmission, significantly amongst younger lady who’ve intercourse with older males. A lot of the dialogue is on PrEP

A extra promising thought is to stop women and younger ladies from changing into contaminated, ideally utilizing strategies which don’t require them to influence a person to put on a condom (which is tough). Amongst these are three PrEP strategies which have grow to be obtainable in recent times: a vaginal ring, a every day tablet and an injection each second month. Convincing ladies liable to hiv
 to make use of them can, nevertheless, be a problem.
The vaginal ring, an insertable silicone machine that releases an ARV drug and should be changed each month, can scale back the chance of HIV an infection by as a lot as 50%. However “it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea,” admits Dr Bekker.
The every day PREP  tablet, which accommodates a mixture of ARV medicine, has been obtainable in Africa for a number of years. Nevertheless it has been tough to pinpoint how efficient it’s as a result of even in medical trials too few ladies used it persistently. Some research estimate that, if used correctly, these tablets can scale back the chance of HIV an infection by as a lot as 90%. However it’s arduous to take the medicine discreetly at work or college and tough to cover from a mum or dad or a boyfriend.
Girls fear about stigma…
Essentially the most promising choice is an injectable type of PrEP. This accommodates a long-acting type of cabotegravir, which stops an necessary stage within the replication of HIV in host cells. It’s delivered as an injection, initially as soon as a month after which each two months, and was included within the World Well being Organisation pointers on HIV prevention final 12 months. In medical trials with ladies in Africa, it was almost 90% simpler than oral PrEP.

The research additionally discusses the potential for different injectable PrEP remedies that are administered much less incessantly (each 6 months) to enhance adherence. The total article is right here.