BASHH supports call from Council leaders for major extension of PrEP

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) have welcomed a statement jointly published today by the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and the Local Government Association (LGA) calling for a major extension of access to PrEP.

The statement, available online in full here, calls on the forthcoming NHS long-term plan to fully commit to expanding access to the PrEP trial and ensure that councils and under-resourced sexual health services are adequately supported to deliver it.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr Olwen Williams, President of BASHH said:

BASHH applauds today’s announcement from leading local authority figureheads calling for the need to extend access to PrEP and ensure that resource is in place to facilitate its delivery. PrEP is one of the best evidence-based tools we have for reducing onward HIV transmission and has consistently been shown to be cost-effective. Clarity therefore is urgently needed about the next steps for the PrEP Impact Trial, which is due to become completely filled in the next few months, thereby likely leaving those most in need unable to access essential preventative care. A new long-term commitment from the Government is urgently needed, alongside a reversal of the damaging cuts to public health budgets which severely jeopardise the care sexual health services are able to provide. Funding one service must not come at the expense of another.