(Adnkronos) - “La PrEP è una profilassi farmacologica per cui una persona a rischio di acquisire l’infezione da HIV può assumere una compressa prima dell’atto sessuale. E’ una profilassi che ha contribuito a ridurre notevolmente le nuove infezioni da HIV nei paesi europei dove è stata implementata. La PrEP in Italia ha avuto uno sviluppo lento, fino allo scorso anno inoltre non era rimborsabile”. Lo ha dichiarato Antonella Cingolani, copresidente ICAR, 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.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Pre-exposure prophylaxis is a pharmacological prophylaxis,
00:10so a person at risk of acquiring HIV infection,
00:14so with an active sexual activity,
00:18can take a compress before the sexual act,
00:23continuously, or on demand,
00:27that is, depending on the time of the sexual act.
00:32It is a prophylaxis that, when implemented,
00:37has contributed to greatly reduce new HIV infections
00:41in European countries, in particular in France,
00:45in particular in Great Britain,
00:48where this prophylaxis has been implemented since 2016,
00:54new HIV infections have had a drastic reduction,
00:59which had not been verified in previous years.
01:02PrEP in Italy had a rather slow development,
01:07as in recent years, until May 2023,
01:11it had been authorized, but it was not reimbursed by the national health system,
01:16so people had to buy it,
01:19and the price was around 50-60 euros per month
01:23for a package of 30 compresses,
01:26and since May 2023 it has been reimbursed,
01:34so obviously this has favored the beginning of an implementation
01:39of this increasingly important process,
01:42even if the current data in Italy
01:45still somehow suggests a delay in the beginning
01:49of the implementation of this prophylactic strategy
01:53compared to other European countries.
01:56Currently we are around, from a survey that will be presented
02:00also during this ICAR convention,
02:03we are around about 11,000 users who take PrEP,
02:07about 10,000 of them are in active follow-up.
02:11Obviously PrEP, a parenthesis, but it is necessary to do it,
02:16is not only a prophylactic strategy in itself,
02:20but it is a sector within a more global mode of prevention
02:27of the person, which involves an increase in screening
02:31of sexually transmitted diseases,
02:33an increase in the implementation of the HIV test,
02:36because obviously PrEP must be done under a strict medical
02:42and behavioral control in some way,
02:47which therefore provides a series of attention to sexual health
02:52that goes beyond the single compress.
02:55One thing I would like to emphasize is that the importance of PrEP,
02:59the correct implementation of PrEP,
03:02more and more towards all the people who need it
03:07and who require it, must necessarily go through an alliance
03:11between the infectious disease doctor and the community of people
03:16of the third sector, who work in institutions of the third sector,
03:22precisely to try to somehow distance the administration
03:28and the implementation of PrEP from the hospital,
03:31but always with the support and collaboration of the infectious disease doctors,
03:37because it is still a prevention tool that must be well managed.