Call for Action: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States

Around the world (including the United States), thousands of HIV-negative people are enrolled in clinical trials to determine whether taking anti-retroviral drugs could reduce the risk of being infected with HIV. This strategy is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

By the middle of next year, more people will be enrolling in PrEP trials than in all HIV vaccine and microbicide efficacy trials combined. Advocates will need to weigh in now, as results from current efficacy trials may become available beginning as early as 2009. There is a role for prevention research advocates to seek answers to questions that can help to determine the next steps in the PrEP research program, to prepare for the trial results, and to ensure access to PrEP if proven effective.

In response to this challenge, the Prevention Research Advocacy Working Group (PRAWG) of HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) recently formed a PrEP Committee. The PrEP Committee is composed of researchers and community advocates, including representatives from AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), Global Campaign for Microbicides & Project Inform. It is focused on identifying questions that must be answered, fostering discussions in and beyond our communities about the opportunities and challenges of this potentially successful intervention, and preparing for advocacy efforts to ensure access to PrEP if proven effective.

The PrEP Committee has identified the following key areas of focus:

• Research, including community acceptability
• Prevention outreach, interventions, and services
• Community education and engagement
• Financing, access, and delivery

You are encouraged to join this national PrEP community education and advocacy campaign! It will take a massive effort to educate the community and advocate for ethical PrEP research and access to all who would benefit.

We invite people to join the PrEP Committee of the CHAMP Prevention Research Advocacy Working Group (PRAWG). To join the committee, please contact Josh Thomas, CHAMP Research Assistant, at josh@champnetwork.org, or call 401-427-2302 x 30.