The federal government is, for the first time, funding a pilot program that will provide generic pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications to prevent HIV. Specifically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made about $10 million available for PrEP programs in jurisdictions already receiving funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States initiative.

 

The initiative targets counties, cities and other jurisdictions that account for a disproportionate number of new HIV cases.

 

The CDC funding was announced in August. In October, the CDC announced five recipients. They are the city health departments of Baltimore, Maryland, and Houston, Texas, as well as the state health departments of Florida, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

 

As the federal government explains in its funding description:

 

“Jurisdictions with greater need for PrEP and lower uptake among priority populations disproportionately affected by HIV and low PrEP prescriptions (i.e., Black and Latino gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men…and Black cisgender and transgender women) need these additional resources and flexibility to accelerate PrEP uptake through patient navigation/case management services and improve access to and utilization of existing PrEP services not covered by other financial resources.”

 

In addition to supporting PrEP access and uptake, the CDC funding will support efforts to increase awareness of and access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which refers to the antiretroviral medications taken soon after a potential exposure to HIV in order to prevent infection, as well as doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea. 

 

For several years, PrEP advocates have pressured the government to fund a national PrEP program to make the prevention tool available to those who need it most. Advocates from PrEP in Black America and PrEP4All, among others, praise this new funding opportunity by the CDC.