The Musicians’ Union motion to the Trades Union Congress’ annual LGBT Conference on access to PrEP passed unanimously.
The motion calls on the TUC LGBT Committee to lobby government for earlier access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a drug that can reduce new HIV infections by 86%. It also calls on the TUC to support the campaign for PrEP Access.
The motion reads:
“There are now around 110,000 people living with HIV in the UK. Both gay men and heterosexuals from black African communities are disproportionately affected by HIV.
In 2014 there were 3,360 new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men - the highest number ever recorded in a year.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a drug that can stop someone becoming HIV positive (it has been shown to reduce new infections by 86 per cent).
PrEP is currently unavailable on the NHS, it is only available privately and costs £400 for 30 pills. An NHS England process to evaluate PrEP is underway, but any decision to provide PrEP will probably not be implemented until early 2017. This is too long to wait. Rates of new HIV infections are far too high; providing PrEP to high-risk groups is far cheaper than providing medical care to them once they have caught the virus.
Conference calls for:
- The TUC LGBT committee to lobby government to put pressure on the NHS to take responsibility for a large scale roll-out of PrEP.
- The TUC and delegates to sign up and support the campaign for PrEP Access.”
MU member Nikki, moving the motion, said “No-one’s health should ever be dependent on who they love, how freely love them, and how much cash they’ve got in their pockets”.
Find out more about PrEP, and HIV, via Prepster, the Terrence Higgins Trust and National Aids Trust.