Free HIV Prevention Pills for All Those at Risk in the UK

The British government has announced that England will be offering free HIV prevention pills to everyone at serious risk of catching the virus – a move health campaigners dubbed a “milestone moment”.

Studies estimated over 100,000 people to be living with HIV in the United Kingdom in 2018. But the prevention pills, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and recommended by the World Health Organization to those at high risk, can effectively cut the transmission rate of the HIV that causes AIDS by 99%.

“This will benefit tens of thousands of people’s lives, and drive us towards our ambition of zero HIV transmissions in this decade,” says Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock of the initiative.

The Department of Health explains that PrEP drugs will be available for free to tens of thousands of people later this year, thanks to a one-year national funding program worth around 20 million dollars.