The international organization Unitaid announced on Friday that it will finance the introduction in Brazil and South Africa of a long-acting injectable preventive treatment for HIV.
” The agency Unitaid announces today an agreement to start the use in South Africa and Brazil of an injection which will protect users from HIV for eight weeks” (human immunodeficiency virus which destroys the immune defenses ), said a spokesperson for Unitaid in Geneva, Hervé Verhoosel.
In a statement, Unitaid explains that this injectable version of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – also called long-acting cabotegravir – is the latest innovation in HIV prevention.
“The United States and England have just approved this system”, but it is not yet available there”, indicated Mr. Verhoosel.
“The cost in the United States is $22,000 per year (per person). Of course we cannot have a cost of 22,000 dollars per year in developing countries. This is why Unitaid exists and why we negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies to have the cheapest possible costs”, he indicated.
This treatment is 70 to 90% more effective than daily oral PrEP in reducing the risk of HIV infection and requires only six injections per year, according to the organization, which raises funds against the diseases.
It also helps to alleviate fears that the pills could be confused with HIV treatment, which would put the person at risk of stigmatization.
In South Africa, adolescent girls and young women experience disproportionately high infection rates. In sub-Saharan Africa, young women are twice as likely to contract HIV as young men.
“Thanks to Unitaid’s investments, communities in Brazil disproportionately affected by HIV will be the first in the world to benefit from this new preventive treatment,” Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said in the statement.