ASHM has highlighted Australia’s guidelines around on-demand PrEP while Thorne Harbour Health has released a video explaining the prevention strategy, following the recent HIV diagnosis of PrEP advocate Steve Spencer.
“To alleviate the concerns of PrEP users, there have only been several recorded cases of seroconversions while on PrEP out of the approximately 450,000 people using this preventative strategy, globally.”
The Therapeutic Goods Administration had already supported an interim decision to reclassify poppers into the same category as marijuana and heroin.
“Over 90,000 gay and bisexual men have used poppers in the last six months, and that’s a lot of people who would, almost overnight, become liable to fines or even prison.”
“We are here and we matter.”
The organisation will offer specialised counselling to bisexual Australians and their families, and will include an education hub for service providers and the public.
“Nothing we’ve banned for the illicit drug marketplace has had much difference and this will be no different.”
The interim decision would see poppers moved into the same category as heroin, making the possession, sale, or use of the inhalant a criminal offence.
News of a new Senate motion to look at fast tracking access to PrEP comes just as a new poster campaign is launched in Melbourne and Sydney by the same anonymous group behind the controversial “you can fuck raw” campaign in September.
PrEP is no doubt on the rise — not only in terms of it being a topic of discussion in the gay community, but also among gay men using it. The Star Observer finds out about the positive impact it’s having in Australia already — even though it’s still not yet readily available through PBS.
