Monday, October 23, to Sunday, October 29, marks PrEP Aware Week 2023, a public health campaign to boost awareness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV.

“The theme for PrEP Aware Week 2023 is ‘PrEP is for Every Body,’ which references two social movements: sex positivity acknowledging that all consensual sexual activities are fundamentally healthy; and body positivity, celebrating all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities,” explain the campaign’s organizers on PrEP Aware’s website PrEPforSex.org.

The annual campaign is spearheaded by the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. Numerous agencies and groups across the state participate in PrEP Aware events, but cities and organizations outside New York also use the campaign as a springboard to promote HIV prevention and PrEP.

This year’s campaign stars eight new ambassadors from across the state “who reflect the spectrum of people who can benefit from using PrEP,” according to the campaign. Each of the ambassadors filmed videos in which they share their perspectives on PrEP to prevent HIV. You can watch all the videos on PrEPforSex.org; several are posted here, in addition to related social media posts.

Search #PrEPAwareWeek2023 and #PrEPIsforEverybody to find related events and virtual programs.

“PrEP is for Every Body,” Celebrating healthy, pleasurable, and responsible sexual relationships for literally “every...

Posted by Iris House on Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved three PrEP medications in the United States—two are pills (Truvada and Descovy), and one is a long-acting shot (Apretude).

You can find data about PrEP use on AIDSVu.org, which creates interactive maps and sharable graphics based on federal data on HIV and PrEP. In a section titled “Deeper Look: PrEP,” AIDSVu writes:

The PrEP utilization data on AIDSVu reveal that the number of PrEP users in the U.S. increased by 20% from 2021 to 2022, continuing a trend of consistent growth in PrEP use since 2012. In addition, AIDSVu’s PrEP use data by race/ethnicity reveal that in 2021, Black people represented 40% of all new HIV diagnoses, but only accounted for 14% of PrEP users in 2022. Hispanic/Latinx people represented 17% of PrEP users in 2022 and 29% of new HIV diagnoses in 2021.

These data reveal the importance of looking at PrEP use through a health equity lens. In order to be effective, programs should be driven by the goal of increasing PrEP use among populations with the greatest unmet need for PrEP. The data available on AIDSVu can help inform policies and programs to ensure that communities that are disproportionately impacted by HIV are aware of and able to access PrEP.

This PrEP Awareness Week, be empowered with the knowledge that woman can take PrEP ???? PrEP has no known drug interactions...

Posted by CAN Community Health on Monday, October 23, 2023

In related news, see HIV.gov’s recent POZ blog post “Expanding PrEP Coverage in the U.S. to Help End the HIV Epidemic.” And for more background, read the POZ Basics on HIV Prevention.