Norway to Provide Free PrEP to Those at Risk for HIV

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Norway will provide Truvada as PrEP for free to groups at high risk for HIV, reports Pink News.

October 25, 2016

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The prevention method—a daily pill taken as pre-exposure prophylaxis—will be paid for by the country’s National Health Service, making Norway the first country in the world to provide it for free.

PrEP is available in several other countries, including the United States, where costs to consumers vary according to insurance coverage. According to Business Insider, France also provides PrEP, but the initial cost is paid by individuals and reimbursed after a receipt is submitted. This makes Norway the second European country to offer PrEP but the first to provide it with no costs up front.

It took the AIDS service organization HIV Norway two years of lobbying to make PrEP available cost-free in Norway.

“PrEP will contribute to reducing the rate of new infections in the gay community, as gay men are facing a risk of infection much higher than the general population,” HIV Norway’s president, Leif-Ove Hansen, told Pink News. “Condom use is on the decline, and we are happy that PrEP now is an integrated part of the public health service.”

Click on image for more information about Truvada

Norway’s news contrasts with the PrEP situation in the United Kingdom, where efforts to make the prevention pill widely available have been caught in a legal battle with England’s National Health Service (NHS), which claims it is not responsible for providing Truvada as PrEP.

To read POZ’s continuing coverage about PrEP, click here.

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