(Adnkronos) - “E’ necessario fare maggiore informazione sulla diffusione della PrEP perché è uno strumento fantastico che è in grado di ridurre la circolazione del virus HIV che continua ad essere un problema sanitario mondiale. E’ necessario inoltre creare strutture. La rimborsabilità è un primo passo ma bisogna fare qualcosa in più, ad esempio sull’utilizzo di farmaci long acting”. Lo ha dichiarato il Prof. Massimo Andreoni, direttore scientifico SIMIT, a margine della conferenza stampa “PrEP e Innovazione” che si è tenuta nell’ambito della 16° edizione di ICAR - Italian Conference on AIDS and Antiviral Research.
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00:00For a year now, PrEP has been refundable in Italy, and this has certainly been a very important step.
00:11However, there are still many obstacles and barriers to universal access to PrEP in Italy.
00:18People have certainly increased since the drug has been refundable, but we are not satisfied.
00:26The number of people who could use PrEP as a preventive measure would be many, but many more.
00:33But there are also bureaucratic barriers, for example, with variations from region to region.
00:42The first obstacle is that a person must be registered at the national health service or a resident in the region to take the drug.
00:51So there is the whole problem of immigrants, but there is also the problem of those who reside in a different region from that of residence.
00:58So, in addition to, for example, administrative issues, because the drug is free, but not all monitoring checks are free.
01:11Or rather, there are regions that have the possibility of issuing ticket exemptions on the various benefits.
01:21Because we remember that the PrEP program is not just about taking a drug, but having monitoring checks,
01:27both for the side effects and for all other risks.
01:32This is what PrEP means at the European and international level.
01:38And so people, especially perhaps the weakest links from a social and economic point of view,
01:44students, but also people without a job, let's think of the most marginalized people,
01:50transgender people who may have difficulty accessing work,
01:55migrants, people who come from neighborhoods, from cities that are less economically rich.
02:07So there is a disparity today in Italy in terms of how to access PrEP.
02:12In addition, there is a need to promote the path of social and health integration.
02:19Today the centers are mainly hospitals, but there is also the reality of associations,
02:28community-based centers, which are now a reality in Rome, Milan and Bologna,
02:35which can be further centers connected to the clinical center to provide PrEP.
02:43This process must be favored, unfortunately not in all regions,
02:48because, for example, those who go to the center of the association to do the checks and everything,
02:53are forced to go to the hospital to withdraw the drug.
02:57In Rome, on the other hand, fortunately, something different is happening.
03:01But thanks to the experience of doctors who try to find solutions,
03:09because otherwise the bureaucracy prevents this universal access.
03:14Among other things, in perspective, with the future, the issue of ungetting,
03:20which could be very useful for some categories,
03:26targets of people that I said before.
03:29It could be easier, for example, for women,
03:33both cisgender and transgender women.
03:36But here it is, information must be made,
03:38and universal guaranteed access must be provided to everyone.