'Morning-After' HIV Drug To Be Available To Outgames Attendees

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'Morning-After' HIV Drug To Be Available To Outgames Attendees by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

July 28, 2006 - 12:01 am ET

(Montreal, Quebec) As thousands of people from around the world begin arriving in Montreal for the Outgames the city's health officials have begun amassing large stocks of the so-called morning-after HIV drug.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that health officials are publicizing the availability of the drug as part of a safe-sex campaign targeting people attending the games which officially get underway this weekend.

Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) can be started within 72 hours of sex and involves a month-long course of treatment.

Dr. Rejean , president of the Clinique Medicale l'Actuel, tells the CBC that the pill is not intended to be used in place of a condom but as a backup.

"Accidents can happen. We still know that on drugs or alcohol sometimes the safe behavior diminishes, so it's like another alternative," told the CBC.

The clinic has launched a promotion campaign using television commercials and posters and said that the clinic has extra staff for the games.

The television ads began running on both private and CBC English and French language stations in Montreal this week, and posters have been set up prominently in the gay village and games venues.

The posters show two athletic men standing in front of a rainbow flag. Copy says "Have you had a risky sexual relation? Did the condom break?... Do you know about PEP?"

The use of PEP has been considered controversial by many AIDS care workers around the world - fearing gay men may rely on the drug rather than practice safe sex.

But the huge number of people expected for the games - some 12,000 athletes plus thousands of spectators from about 60 countries - plus the associated International Conference on Human Rights and Montreal's gay pride this weekend has health officials worried.

The campaign has the endorsement of Ken Monteith, the executive director of AIDS community care in Montreal.

"The whole question of PEP might be saving someone from a lifetime of expensive and difficult-to-take medication," he told the CBC.

©365Gay.com 2006

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