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HIV prevention not for you, says National Aids Control Organisation
Updated On: 20 September, 2018 07:30 AM IST | Mumbai | Rupsa Chakraborty
AIDS control body says it hasn't heard of WHO's 2014 guidelines that mandate the drug PEP be given free to anyone who needs it
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Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
For anyone worried that they may have been exposed to HIV, the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) pills are a godsend. Taken within 72 hours, they can prevent HIV infection. Unfortunately, the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) continues to deny PEP to the common man in violation of guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014. What's more, when mid-day called the agency's helpline, the staffers didn't even seem to understand how PEP or HIV work.
PEP is a crucial weapon against the spread of HIV. Unlike other ART drugs that treat infected patients, PEP prevents infection altogether. In 2014, WHO (World Health Organisation) issued a guideline stating that irrespective of the source of exposure of HIV, everyone should be given PEP free of cost at specified government centres. But in Maharashtra, the medicine is given only to doctors and medical staff who are exposed to the virus as an occupational hazard. Bizarrely, when this reporter called the NACO helpline, a staffer claimed that "PEP is ineffective in preventing HIV infection."
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