By Patience Longwe

Lilongwe, March 25, MANA: Director of Programmes at National Aids Commission (NAC), Chimwemwe Mablekisi says a newly introduced injectable Prep will help to reduce new HIV cases in the country.

Briefing the media in Lilongwe on Monday, Mablekisi said the injectable Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) will be given to people who are at risk of contracting and sexually transmitted infections.

"As you are aware our goal is to end HIV as a public health threat by 2030. For us to achieve that goal, we must ensure that we do have as many HIV prevention methods as we can. We have a combination HIV prevention methods and through this, we are continuously introducing new products, and injectable PREP is one of them. This will be given to people who are at substantial risk of contracting HIV," She said.

Mablekisi further urged the public to utilize combination prevention methods to avoid contracting the virus saying those on injectable prep are still at risk of getting HIV.

"I would like also want to emphasize that injectable PREP is not a vaccine but a prevention method. It is just like any other method that people use to prevent HIV. A vaccine for HIV has not yet been found and studies are still on-going," she explained.

In her remarks, Director of HIV and Aids and Viral Hepatitis in the Ministry of Health, Rose Nyirenda said currently, injectable PREP is being administered in Lilongwe and Blantyre saying these districts have higher prevalence rate of HIV infection at the moment.

"We have indeed started implementing long injectable PREP to people who are at risk of contracting the virus. We have started with Lilongwe and Blantyre because for the past two years, these districts have registered high number of HIV infections," she said.