GOVT HAS THE SOLUTION
MBABANE – Just about anyone who has had unprotected consensual sex or experienced a condom split and fears contracting HIV can get medication that would help in preventing exposure to the virus.
This involves males and females who may have had a condom split during sex or those who have had sex with people outside their spouses or stable relationships.
The treatment known as post- exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is accessible at any of the over 130 health facilities that provide ARVs and is taken for just a month’s period.
Raped
This comes at a time when some people were of the view that the PEP was mainly for those who had been raped or health workers who might have accidentally exposed themselves to HIV while going about their duties.
PEP is more like an antiretroviral drug treatment that is started immediately after someone is exposed to HIV.
The aim is to allow a person’s immune system a chance to provide protection against the virus and to prevent HIV from becoming established in someone’s body.
In order for PEP to have a chance of working, the medication needs to be taken as soon as possible, and within 72 hours of exposure to HIV.
Left any longer, it is thought that the effectiveness of the treatment is severely diminished.
Confirming this was Deputy Director of Health Services Dr Velephi Okello, who said the service has been there for about 10 years now.
“When it started out it was meant for health practitioners and health care givers who were prone to exposure. However, with time we realised that the treatment should be provided for all people who have been exposed in whichever way.”
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