Prevention drugs suggested for those at high risk of HIV

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The World Health Organisation strongly recommended that men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicine as an additional method of preventing HIV.

The World Health Organisation strongly recommended that men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicine as an additional method of preventing HIV. Photo: Erin Jonasson

Australians at high risk of contracting HIV, especially men having unprotected sex with men, should be given access to a contraceptive-like pill that protects them from getting the virus, the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations says. 

This week for the first time, the World Health Organisation strongly recommended that men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicine as an additional method of preventing HIV, alongside the use of condoms. 

In its new guidelines on HIV prevention, released ahead of the 20th International AIDS Conference starting in Melbourne this weekend, the WHO said modelling estimated that the drugs would reduce HIV infections among men who have sex with men by 20 per cent to 25 per cent in a decade, averting up to 1 million new diagnoses. 

”Rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men remain high almost everywhere and new prevention options are urgently needed,” the WHO statement said.