A survey carried out by the ImPrEP Study Group, in Mexico, Peru and Brazil, between 2018 and 2021, sought to verify the feasibility of offering oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) on a daily basis in these countries. The objective is to serve as a model for other initiatives throughout Latin America.
The results were published in The Lances HIV on 21 December. As demonstrated by the study, adherence to PrEP and retention of services were well evaluated in the long term.
Still, it remained verified that the results were worse among the most vulnerable and young people, with a low incidence of HIVand higher in populations with low adherence to PrEP and greater vulnerability.
The study was carried out with 9,509 volunteers, the majority aged between 18 and 30 years old, 3,288 in Mexico, 2,293 in Peru and 3,928 in Brazil. The majority (94.3%) of the participants are gay, bisexual and other cisgender men who engage in sexual activities with other men. The remainder (5.7%) are trans women and transvestites, the population most impacted by HIV and AIDS in Latin America.
The first stage of ImPrEP linked to offering daily oral PrEP came from the initiative of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), together with the Department of Chronic Diseases and Sexually Transmitted Infections, of the Ministry of Health of Brazil, in addition to the National Institute of Health Public, Clínica Condesa, from Mexico, and the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, in Peru.
This research demonstrates the impact of using PrEP, which has proven to be extremely important as a preventionmainly among the most affected populations, such as transvestites, MSM (cisgender men who practice sexual activities with other men) and transgender women throughout Latin America.
Finally, it was demonstrated that the structural and social determinants of HIV risk need to be addressed, thus verifying the full realization of the benefits of pre-exposure prophylaxis, PrEP.
