PrEP is short for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. It involves taking pills such as Truvada or Descovy, that can protect you from becoming HIV positive.
PrEP is a highly effective treatment for use if you are HIV negative, to prevent you from becoming infected with HIV, especially if you are at risk of contracting the virus from sex or injection drug use.
What is prep?
You should
consider taking
PrEP if you:
consider taking
PrEP if you:
Have a sexual partner with HIV, especially if the partner has an unknown or detectable viral load
Do not consistently use condoms, especially if your partners do not know their HIV status, when having anal or vaginal sex
Are a gay man, trans or non-binary and have condomless anal sex
Have been diagnosed with an STD in the past 6 months
Share needles, syringes or other tools to inject drugs
Before you begin taking PrEP, we will do an HIV test to make sure that you are negative. Once you’re on PrEP, it's important that you have regular HIV tests, which we will book every three months.
When you are taking PrEP, you will need to take it every day, as this ensures that you have continuous protection against HIV. We recommend taking the pill around the same time each day (with or without food).
We also recommend that you take it for seven continuous day before having condomless sex to ensure that you are adequately protected from the risk of transmission.
If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV and haven't been continuously on PrEP, we recommend contacting us within 72 hours of exposure so we can discuss treatment using PEP.
How to take PrEP
If you're considering starting PrEP, want more information, or if you’re ready to start, schedule a visit with us.
Schedule a visit