Mexico Will Soon Implement the Country’s First-Ever PrEP Program
This week at the International AIDS Conference 2018, which is taking place in Amsterdam, the ImPrEP project was presented. It’s a PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) implementation program that was rolled out in Brazil and will now begin in Peru and Mexico, serving as a preliminary step for the launch of comprehensive PrEP services in both countries.
The goal of implementing PrEP in Mexico and Peru is a reduction in cases of HIV between men who have sex with men (MSM) and trans women through the inclusion of the one-a-day pill as an HIV prevention method. ImPrPE wants to ensure continued access to PrEP throughout Mexico, Peru and Brazil.
This PrEP study begins with 7,500 participants: 3,000 in Brazil, 3,000 in Mexico and 1,500 in Peru. All participants will receive comprehensive HIV prevention services, daily oral PrEP medication, assessments of their PrEP intake and adherence through self-reporting, pharmacy dispensation data, measurement of blood levels and STI diagnosis.
This is the first PrEP in Mexico study, and it’s planned to start in the coming weeks. The channels through which you can participate to obtain PrEP in Mexico are the Condesa Specialized Clinic and through NGOs like Inspira AC.
“Right now there is a waiting list. Once the implementation starts, an appointment will be scheduled to check that participants meet the necessary requirements. In that appointment an interview and a medical consultation will be made and blood samples will be taken. After the results and in the cases that are eligible, the medication will be given,” says Aaron Rojas, Coordinator of Inspira AC. “If the participant is not eligible for PrEP, we’ll give them information about other methods of prevention.”
From this collaboration between Brazil, Mexico and Peru, results of the ImPrEP project will be used to strategize additional PrEP programs with the goal of reducing HIV cases among those populations most in risk.
