Greece approves use of PrEP in switch to focus on HIV prevention

PrEP is very effective at preventing HIV when taken as prescribed. It is an essential element in the ‘combination prevention’ needed to reach the sustainable development goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an agency of the European Union.

Activists had long been calling on the government to make PrEP freely available, arguing that including it in its preventative healthcare policy would also help fight stigma.

“One of the most important dimensions of prejudice and institutionalized discrimination against LGBTI+ people has to do with HIV,” said a spokesperson for Positive Voice, an association for HIV-positive people in Greece.

The Greek government has launched a number of preventive healthcare initiatives such as nudge policies for mammograms. But PrEP is also part of the national LGBTQ strategy, said Alex Patelis, Chief Economic Adviser to the prime minister.

The specifics of distribution and medical guidelines will be defined in a ministerial decision, he said.

Mitsotakis last year appointed a committee to draft a national strategy for improving LGBTQ rights, and has introduced a number of reforms since then, including allowing homosexual men to make blood donations and banning so-called sex normalizing surgeries on children.

“The priority is to safeguard the health of all citizens, including those who are more vulnerable,” Patelis said. “Evidence from abroad indicates that preventive policies in general, including making PrEP available, is also a cost-effective approach.”

By Paul Tugwell