A drug which stops HIV infecting the body has proved to be a highly effective “real-world” preventative treatment, a study has confirmed. The results of the research on 24,000 people taking it across England, have been described as “reassuring”.

Thousands of people are already taking PrEP through sexual health clinics.

HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust wants easier access to the drug, since many people, including women, do not know it exists.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which led the PrEP Impact Trial with the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said it was the largest ever real-world study of its kind. Funded by NHS England, it was carried out at 157 sexual health clinics across England between October 2017 and July 2020.

The study found use of PrEP, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis. reduced the chances of getting HIV by around 86% when used in everyday life - taking into account inconsistent or incorrect use. Clinical trials suggested the medication is 99% effective.

      • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

        -- C.S. Lewis

          • SuckMyWang@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I think some of the logic is god wants these people destroyed and to burn in hell. So anything that prevents this happening is going against gods goodwill. It’s not for the good of the victim but for the good of the god they believe in. Fucking sick fucks the lot of them. If there were a hell they’d be first in line

          • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Do you think fully half of the general population of the United States are downright evil? A bunch of Snidely Whiplashes laughing maniacally as they do things purely to cause suffering?

            Of course they think they’re doing this for the good of their victims. That’s why this is all so pernicious.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Do you think fully half of the general population of the United States are downright evil?

              Only half? 🤔

              Of course they think they’re doing this for the good of their victims. That’s why this is all so pernicious.

              Do you think they kill minorities because they want to help them? Do you think they’re bigots because they want to help?

              Please reconsider. You have fooled yourself into thinking you aren’t surrounded by people with monstrous ideology. The truth is, these people want to kill their enemies. That’s it. They want people to die from STDs because they believe they deserve it for sinning. That’s it.

              • FaceDeer@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                It’s one of those “greater good”, “breaking eggs to make an omelette” things.

                I think it’s you who’s fooling yourself. You’re dehumanizing your opponents and therefore losing the ability to understand them. Saying “oh, they’re just evil” is giving up. And if you believe in democracy it means that you end up in a situation where you end up letting that “evil” win.

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  You completely misunderstand, I don’t think of them as inhuman monsters. History shows us that this is very human! What I want is for them to be rehabilitated and reeducated; deprogram them from their monstrous ideas and beliefs. They’re backwards and need help.

                  I guess my glib comment about Americans being “evil” was in poor taste. I’m certainly not a moralist!

                  That doesn’t change the fact that these people really do want everyone with STDs to become an untouchable caste, and believe that this is basically God’s way of punishing sinners and saving the righteous, and also believe that anyone who cavorts with sinners should be damned. If they had their way, people with STDs would have it tattooed on their forheads and genitals. PrEP would be banned because touching the untouchables is banned, getting an STD would be what you deserve for violating God’s divine mandate and sinning.

                  And that definitely doesn’t mean you should bend over backwards to accommodate them.

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        1 year ago

        Regressives believe that their preferences are divine law. Therefore, anything that allows you to do something they don’t like without shitty, unnecessary consequences is “encouraging immorality.”

        One step further, and they enjoy coming up with more shitty, unnecessary consequences to aid the “divine plan” of making people miserable if they don’t conform.

        You can see this across the board - they’re make shit illegal, then conflate the natural problems of the behavior with the added problems of the legal system, and pretend they’re all unavoidable.

        They hate that gay and trans people have any acceptance, because it makes those same people less likely to be depressed and suicidal, which makes it harder for them to lie and say those people are depressed/suicidal because they aren’t cis/straight, rather than because they’re treated like crap.

  • dumples@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I have only heard of PrEP being taking by males. I didn’t know it was approved for use by females in the USA. Or as I have heard in their ad those assigned female at birth.

      • mjsaber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        Women of color actually have really high rates of HIV compared to the rest of the population. Working to de-stigmatize both the infection and prevention treatments is a really important part of reducing overall numbers of HIV.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah there’s actually a real problem with hiv running rampant in some communities of straight people because of the assumption of it as a gay virus

    • mjsaber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Descovy, a newer form of PrEP, only had male assigned at birth participants in the study (and the number of non-cis males was very, very low if I’m remembering correctly).

      The original formulation has been approved for everyone for a while, but since the new formulation was only tested with a certain population, that’s all it’s approved for.

      • dumples@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That must be what I have seen before. It was before RuPaul so I think there was a specific audience

      • mjsaber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        That’s not entirely true. Receptive vaginal sex is much less likely to transmit the virus than anal sex (about 17x less). Insertive anal sex is more likely to transmit than vaginal sex, too, so the type of sex you have matters too.

        Number of partners, and their sexual habits really matter, too. It’s important to help people really understand their STI risk if we want people to make healthier decisions regarding sex.

        • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Please don’t share this misinformation,

          because you’re anti-gay, or you’re under the impression that HIV is a gay thing.

          By the numbers, more heterosexual people have HIV than homosexual people. Not by the percentage of the community, which is a right-wing nonsensical way to blame gay people.

          It has nothing to do with the “STI risk,” as if it’s some kind of range. If a PERSON of ANY GENDER is having unprotected sex with people who have even a 1% chance of having sex with other people, then PREP is probably a good idea.

          Let me count the number of married people who got HIV from their spouses! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄