Activists in the fight against HIV/AIDs say there is need for more efforts to make people aware of Pre and post exposure prophylaxis (PEP and PrEP), a medication taken to prevent getting HIV.
Currently, there are both pre and post exposure prophylaxis drugs for HIV available in Rwanda.
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Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV is a short sequence of HIV medicines taken very soon (often within 72 hours) after a possible exposure to HIV, so as to prevent the infection from taking hold in the body.
On the other hand, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), is medicine that people at risk of HIV take to prevent contracting the virus.
In Rwanda, the prophylaxes are provided free of charge mainly at hospitals and health centers, but to date, pharmacies don’t have them since there is fear that such drugs can be abused.
"PrEP is given to people who have high risks of HIV exposure. For example, sex workers and discordant couples, while PEP is given to those who get involved in unfortunate events that expose them to HIV. These drugs can be accessed at any hospital but not in pharmacies because there are tests that doctors must carry out before providing them,” said Ernest Nyirinkindi, the in-charge of Information, Education and Behavioural Change Communication at Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), in an interview with The New Times.
"These drugs are given free of charge but we don’t want people to abuse them by going back and forth (into infection risks),” he added, as he noted that such medicine is strong and people that take them should be tested to make sure they don’t have conditions like kidney diseases and other high risk non communicable diseases.
He highlighted that RBC is making an effort to make the population informed about the availability of such medication, but noted that more efforts are put in preventive measures.
Dr Aflodis Kagaba, the Executive Director at Health Development Initiative (HDI) told The New Times that the access to information is still limited, and so there is a need to continue rising awareness.
"Communities are not yet aware about PrEP,” he said.
"At programming level, most information and programming has targeted people with high risk of HIV. Like young women involved in sex work, men who have slept with men and serodiscordant couples. We hope people are progressively going to know about them (prophylaxes) because most of the people that take them are the ones I mentioned,” he added.
Aimable Mwananawe, the Executive Director at Ihorere Munyarwanda Organization (IMRO), an NGO that works to fight against HIV, among other things, said his organisation is doing some work in regard to educating people, especially high risk groups, about such medicines.