Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) drugs are reported to be expiring in Malawian hospitals as health workers and other professionals that are exposed to the risk of HIV infection are not utilizing the facility. Dr Adrina Mwansambo of the National AIDS Commission in Malawi has told the media.
Many health workers that have been exposed to the risk of HIV infection have been shying to access the PEP service for fear of stigma that might come after accessing the service.
She said PEP drugs that reduce the probability of infection after a person has been exposed to the risk of infection when taken within 70 hours were not being utilized.
However, Dr Mwansambo warned the media to responsibly sensitize the nation on PEP to avoid building misconceptions that an HIV vaccine is available.
“The media should responsibly put across the message on PEP as we don’t want people to be made to believe that there is an HIV vaccine,” she said after the media had shown a lot of interest on the matter.
Concurring with Mwansambo, Amon Nkhata ART officer responsible for sexually transmitted infections said that if news on PEP is irresponsibly disseminated that could lead to confusion and people would deliberately put themselves in risky situations.
He said the media should advance for issues of behavior change and PEP should come in as a last resort.
“It would be catastrophic if the message is wrongly put across and people start to believe that there is a drug that acts more or less as an HIV vaccine,” he said.
PEP drugs are a form of Anti Retro Viral medication that administered to people that have been raped or professionals that have been exposed to the risk of infection.
For a person to benefit from the service, he is tested for HIV and if found to be HIV negative administered the drugs that will reduce the probability of getting infected.
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