Giving HIV drugs to healthy gay men could help eradicate the virus from New Zealand.

HIV & AIDS
Photo By Aji Sutopo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

A recent UK study shows it could dramatically cut new infections, but the gay community here is treating it with caution.

New Zealand has managed to keep HIV rates relatively stable over the past decade, but following a recent spike in infections the AIDS Foundation says new interventions are needed.

There are additional interventions that we can now put alongside condom use, and it actually makes it possible that we could end HIV and AIDS in New Zealand, says NZ AIDS Foundation executive director Shaun Robinson.

A new study shows that giving HIV drugs to those at high-risk would cut new infections in the UK by 44 percent. In London, one in eight gay men has HIV.

PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a new HIV prevention method in which people who do not have HIV, take daily drugs to stop the virus from taking hold.

Read more at www.3news.co.nz

Photo By Aji Sutopo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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