This communique is for clinicians involved in HIV, who may be consulted about HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). It assumes an understanding of HIV prophylaxis.
Access to PrEP in AustraliaThe Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) announced on 9 February 2018, to recommend the listing of HIV Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for HIV prevention. HIV PrEP drugs – tenofovir with emtricitabine – will be PBS listed from 1 April 2018, thereby providing broader access for any doctor or general practitioner to be able prescribe PrEP to an Australian resident who holds a current Medicare card. Read more here
ASHM coordinated a meeting of State and Territory Health departments to outline our discussion framework for the rollout of PrEP in the Primary Health Care sector of Australia.
Please review the draft discussion document by clicking on the graphic (right).
The Powerpoint presentation from this meeting is available HERE
Download our HIV Program Education Special Bulletin with links to new resources and training (published in April 2018)
If you are a primary care provider, you can access ASHM's latest HIV PrEP Update for Primary Care Providers webinar recording by clicking HERE. This webinar provides GPs, Nurses and Health Professionals working in primary care an update on strategies available for the prevention of HIV transmission, focusing on prevention particularly Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP).
ASHM hosted a Facebook Live Q+A: PREPPING the Health Workforce on 12 April 2018 with an expert clinical and community panel. Selected responses have been posted up on the PrEP: Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
This study is set to evaluate the providers’ awareness about PrEP, willingness to prescribe it, and views as to how PrEP services can be best delivered. Evidence collected by this study will inform better models of clinical PrEP delivery and further improve PrEP provision in Australia.
This is a national survey of health practitioners, members of the professional health workers’ associations, including the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM), Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), The Australasian Sexual Health and HIV Nurses Association (ASHHNA) and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).
The survey is conducted online. Please follow the following link to access the questionnaire: https://redcap.sydney.edu.au/surveys/?s=YTXCRXD9F3
Further information regarding the study:
ASHM continues to support the workforce to ensure access to PrEP and best practice in guidelines, training and resources:
Currently in development to be made available in 2018 are new at-a-glance ASHM HIV PrEP resources for clinicians and patients:
ASHM Australian HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Clinical Guidelines have been published in the Journal of Virus Eradication (Journal of Virus Eradication 2017; 3: pp168–184) representing an adaptation and a revision of the 2014 United States Centers for Disease Control's PrEP guidelines. The 2017 Australian PrEP Guidelines have the benefits of having been being written and edited by clinicians, epidemiologists and representatives of peak Australian HIV community organisations who have significant experience of PrEP in the clinical, research and real-world settings. These guidelines are written for clinicians who will be initiating PrEP and monitoring people taking PrEP and are designed to reflect Australia’s unique epidemiology.
The recommendations included in the Guidelines are designed to:
This new 2-page Decision Making in PrEP tool provides a prescribing pathway which summarises the key eligibility and recommended assessment for primary care providers in Australia who wish to prescribe PrEP and the ongoing patient education and monitoring requirements.
If you think PrEP might be right for you, ASHM encourage you to contact your GP. For more information, the links to the FACT SHEET below provides a full list of Australian local AIDS councils. ASHM are working with AFAO and state AIDS councils to produce resources for PrEP users, such as the ACON NSW series of patient videos and the ASHM PrEP Patient Information Booklet.
The Australian Implementation of PrEP trials have recruited participants in all states and territories apart from Northern Territory (numbers at December 2017):
Find links to further information:
New Zealand’s PHARMAC (the New Zealand government agency that decides which pharmaceuticals to publicly fund in New Zealand) announced on 6 February, 2018 that Gilead Sciences’ Truvada® will be available to eligible patients as PrEP in pharmacies throughout New Zealand from 1 March, 2018 at the cost of a normal prescription.
For more information, see the New Zealand AIDS Foundation website here.
The ASHM PrEP online learning module for NZ GPs is available now and will be updated to reflect the changes to PHARMAC.
ASHM supported the educational needs of GP prescribers and other clinicians in New Zealand who are involved in HIV care in the upcoming 2018 NZ HIV Clinical Update meeting held in Auckland City Hospital on Friday 6 April 2018. For more information: Visit the website
A PrEP Clinical Update was presented by Dr Vincent Cornelisse (Specialist in sexual health medicine, Prahan Market Clinic, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) and Dr Massimo Giola (Specialist in Infectious Diseases and Sexual Health, Bay of Plenty DHB, New Zealand). They presented on the science of PrEP and how to prescribe PrEP in New Zealand.
Find links to further information:
