Last week, there was quite the hat trick of good news regarding the HIV prevention pill known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.
On Wednesday, June 24, Governor Jerry Brown signed a budget for the Golden State that includes $2 million for PrEP outreach and education. That means organizations that advocate for PrEP, such as the Los Angeles LGBT Center, will be able to apply for some of that money and use it to help people learn about and obtain PrEP.
“There are a lot of people who don’t even know about PrEP,” Aaron Fox of the Los Angeles LGBT Center told HIV Equal. “Especially in communities outside of West Hollywood, and people traditionally shut out of medical care either because of income status or distress to the medical system.”
That may include minority men who have sex with men who do not identify as gay, and who are not reached by traditional PrEP messaging. It also can include transgender people who will not go see a doctor for fear of being gawked at in the waiting room. Still other people simply think they cannot afford PrEP and therefore don’t even bother with exploring it as an HIV prevention option.