Online petition to SLCo Health Dept prompts new HIV program
Organizers of a Change.org online petition that gathered over 3,800 signatures demanding the Salt Lake County Health Department address getting information on PrEP to affected communities declared victory as the department announced a new HIV prevention program, The PrEP Resource Team.
The petition, initiated by gay activist Michael Sanders, was prompted by the lack of resources for Salt Lake County residents to easily obtain information about Pre-exposure prophylaxis, commonly known as PrEP. Marketed under the brand name Truvada, PrEP is a daily regimen to pro-actively prevent new HIV infections.
The U.S. Center For Disease Control says that “PrEP is a way for people who do not have HIV but who are at substantial risk of getting it to prevent HIV infection by taking a pill every day. The pill contains two medicines — tenofovir and emtricitabine — that are also used in combination with other medicines to treat HIV. When someone is exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use, these medicines can work to keep the virus from establishing a permanent infection.
When taken consistently, PrEP has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92 percent.
The World Health Organization also recently released updated guidelines calling for universal antiretroviral therapy for everyone diagnosed with HIV, regardless of CD4 T-cell count, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for people at substantial risk of infection.
“These new recommendations will have tremendous impact on peoples’ lives, if rapidly implemented,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the WHO Department of HIV/AIDS.
“Bringing the rate of new infections — which have been skyrocketing among key risk groups like young gay and bisexual men — below epidemic levels could prove to be the critical turning point in ultimately closing this chapter in history where HIV and AIDS represent an unmanageable virus that can only be contained, but not conquered,” said Sanders. “The Salt Lake County Health Department can make a real impact in the fight to decrease new HIV infections with this program”
Sanders chose to petition the Salt Lake County Health Department because they already had most of the information and resources available for this program, including the HIV testing capabilities required to begin a PrEP regimen and a staff dedicated to HIV prevention already in place.
“It was just a matter of consolidating the information in one place, coordinating the current staff and getting the word out the information was readily available at the County Health Department” Sanders said.
Tonight at 7pm the Utah Pride Center, blackBOOTS/blackBOARD will host presenters from Gilead, the producer of TRUVADA, the University of Utah Hospital Clinic 1-A and the Salt Lake County Health Department will hold a community event to launch the program and provide more information. More info on the event is here.
Sanders has also launched a program, dubbed Mr. Friendly Utah, that addresses HIV-related stigma in the gay and bi community. Info is at facebook.com/TeamFriendlyUTAH
For additional information about the PrEP Resource Team program call 385.468.4166