Currently, both pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV are available in Rwanda. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for HIV is a short course of HIV medicines taken very soon (often within 72 hours) after possible exposure to HIV to prevent the infection from taking hold in the body. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), on the other hand, is medicine that people at risk of HIV take to prevent contracting the virus. In Rwanda, preventive medicines are provided free of charge mainly in hospitals and health centres, but until now pharmacies do not stock them, as there is a fear that such medicines can be misused. “PrEP is given to people who have high risks of exposure to HIV. For example, sexually and discordant couples, while PEP is given to those who are involved in unfortunate events that expose them to HIV. These drugs can be accessed at any hospital but not in pharmacies because there are tests that doctors have to do before they can be dispensed,” said Ernest Nyirinkindi, information communication, education and behavior change officer at the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), in an interview with New Times. “These drugs are given for free, but we don’t want people to abuse them going back and forth (at risk of infection),” he added, noting that such medicine is powerful and people taking it should be checked to make sure they don’t have ailments like kidney disease and other high-risk non-communicable diseases.

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There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. He emphasized that the RBC is making an effort to inform the population about the availability of such drugs, but noted that more efforts are being made for preventive measures. Dr Aflodis Kagaba, Executive Director of the Health Development Initiative (HDI) told New Times that access to information is still limited and therefore there is a need to continue raising awareness. “Communities are still not aware of PrEP,” he said. “On a programming level, most information and programming has targeted people at high risk of HIV. Such as young women who engage in sex work, men who have slept with men and HIV-positive couples. We hope that people will gradually become aware of ‘ them (precautionary measures) because most of the people who take them are the ones I mentioned,” he added. Aimable Mwananawe, Executive Director at Ihorere Munyarwanda Organization (IMRO), an NGO working to fight HIV among others, said his organization is doing some work in educating people, especially high-risk groups, about such drugs.