Access To Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

EDM number 1311 in 2015-16, proposed by Norman Lamb on 23/03/2016.
Categorised under the topics of Diseases, Health education and preventive medicine, Health services and Medicine.

That this House raises serious concerns over the recent decision by NHS England to delay the national roll-out of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV; notes that this decision was made despite overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of PrEP in reducing infection with HIV in high-risk groups, including the PROUD study which showed that PrEP reduced the risk of infection by 86 per cent; further notes that HIV transmission rates are increasing not only in the men who have sex with men population but also among BME communities and heterosexual women; affirms that PrEP, which is already available in other countries such as France, the US, Canada, Kenya and Israel, is a crucial part of the armoury in the fight against HIV and could prevent 7,400 new cases of the infection by 2020; believes that NHS England's announcement of PrEP test sites over the next two years is unnecessary in light of the clinical evidence available, and is concerned that this may be intended to avoid acceptance of responsibility for commissioning HIV prevention treatments rather than local authorities; further believes that, as an essential treatment, responsibility for commissioning PrEP should lie with NHS England rather than local authorities; and urges the Government to intervene as a matter of urgency to ensure that NHS England takes the steps necessary for PrEP to be considered as part of the next annual CPAG prioritisation process so that all high-risk groups are able to access the treatment as soon as possible.

This motion has been signed by a total of 28 MPs.