I will be the first to admit it: I do not know enough about the global fight against HIV/AIDS epidemic.  So when fellow blogger, AFY_EmilyB, alterted me to an article about PrEP, I knew I had to take the oppurtunity to educate myself.  Needless to say, what follows is no where near an expert's account - and I will never pretend to be a scientist.  To be honest, what I think is particularly interesting about this aspect of HIV/AIDS research is about society and our own personal values.

Two days ago, I had no idea what PrEP was.  If you're in the same boat, here's a quick intro courtesy of PrEPwatch.org :

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) refers to an experimental HIV-prevention strategy that would use anti-retrovirals (ARVs) to protect HIV-negative people from HIV infection. In this strategy, people would take the medications before they were exposed to HIV, in hopes that it would lower the risk of infection. PrEP is different from post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), in which people who have been exposed through a needle, rape, etc., immediately begin taking ARVs in hopes of preventing infection.

 While contraceptive developments gave us birth control THEN the morning after pill, it seems like HIV/AIDS research is working in a different direction.  There are anti-retroviral cocktails currently used by people who have been exposed to HIV that prevent infection (you can liken this to the morning after pill in the above proposed metaphor) and now some researchers are developing something that could be used before exposure (the birth control of HIV/AIDS infection).  This is not to say that HIV infection is comparable to pregnancy.  This is a way I was able to make sense of the science.

In a recent post on The Daily Best, David Kaufman outlines how and where some of this research is taking place and interviews various people on the implications of PrEP.  What he fails to do, however, is to fully understand and embrace the principles of harm reduction and how PrEP can potentially play an important part.

Harm reduction, is a strategy that many employ to reduce potentially negative consequences of drug use or unprotected sex.  One of the primary principles of harm reduction, that many (including David Kaufman) fail to understand is the non-judgmental part.  Harm reduction:

Calls for the non-judgmental, non-coercive provision of services and resources to people who use drugs and the communities in which they live in order to assist them in reducing attendant harm.

Kaufman seems to have an eye for inequality.  He points out that PrEP is a potentially expensive treatment, which means that if it becomes more generally available only those with access to money will be able to afford it.  His post, however, is littered with judgment:

The closest we may soon have to an effective vaccine, it posits the notion of science—rather than self-control—as the key agent of HIV prevention

Learning about PrEP, however, made me excited for the potential for expanded harm reduction options.  I believe that there are many individual circumstances that lead to people engaging in activities with high risk for HIV/AIDS infection.  And I believe that all people, regardless of their lifesyle, have the right to a life free from HIV/AIDS and other infections. 

PrEP has a long way to come.  Human trials are underway on different parts of the globe, but we are still years away from seeing it offered to the general public (and probaby even more time will pass before it becomes accessible) - if it does prove to be effective. 

We do have immediate work to do though.  We need to engage with people, such as Kaufman, who imply that "self-control" should be the key to HIV prevention.  If we aren't striving for a world where everyone - regardless of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, legal status, citizenship, employment, drug use - has access to a healthy life, then we aren't working for justice.  We need to examine our personal judgments and values and make sure that justice is at the core of all of our talk and work.  And we need to push our allies (and potential allies) to do the same. 

PrEP for harm reduction! Who's with me?