The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it would launch an HIV screening and pre-exposure prophylaxis program next month for the spouses of people with HIV or people younger than 30 whose lifestyle puts them at higher risk of infection.
The program would provide people at high risk of contracting HIV a daily, oral antiretroviral to lower their chances of infection.
The program is scheduled to begin in the middle of next month and end on Dec. 31 next year and would be implemented at 31 hospitals nationwide, CDC Chronic Infectious Diseases Division head Huang Yen-fang (黃彥芳) said.
The program is to provide a set of comprehensive care services, including drug administration; education on safe sex and HIV prevention; counseling; screening for sexually transmitted diseases; drug addiction and mental health evaluations; and drug rehabilitation if necessary, she said.
It is to be limited to 1,000 people — spouses of HIV-infected people referred by a physician and those younger than 30 who are at higher risk of infection due to their habits — and would cost NT$10,000 per year, she added.
“Some might worry that the program will make people at higher risk of HIV infection feel safe, causing them to let their guard down, so we put an emphasis on individual case management in the hopes of not only reducing the participants’ risk of infection, but also change their behavior to prevent future risks,” CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
The program is not the main HIV prevention strategy, but is to be offered as an additional preventive choice that could reduce the risk of HIV infection by more than 90 percent if properly implemented, he said, but added that people should still avoid having multiple sexual partners or engaging in unsafe sex.
The antiretroviral can be taken daily or before and after sex, depending on the physician’s prescription, Taiwan AIDS Society president Lin Hsi-hsun (林錫勳) said.
The medication can cause mild side effects such as dizziness, nausea or stomach cramps, Lin said, adding that a small percentage of people might experience decreased kidney function or a slight decrease in bone mineral density, both of which would return to normal once they stop taking the antiretroviral.
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