Gay Men should take AIDS drugs even if they are not infected-WHO

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO),asides using condoms, gay men are advised to take antiretroviral AIDS drugs as an extra way of protecting themselves against infection.

This is known as pre-exposure prophylaxis ,a way for at-risk people to protect themselves by taking a single pill.If this is done, HIV among gay people could be cut by 25%..

According to Rachel Baggaley, coordinator of the WHO's department for HIV/AIDS.

‘The reason we are adding this to our prevention choices for men who have sex with men is that we have these very worrying increases in HIV incidence,’

Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the WHO's department said

‘Globally we are failing certain populations that have the greatest risk yet we know have universally poorer access to health services‘These are men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender persons, specifically transgender women, persons who inject drugs and persons who are in prisons or other closed settings.’

The WHO said studies estimate female sex workers are 14 times more likely to have HIV than other women, gay men are 19 times more likely to have HIV than the general population, and transgender women are almost 50 times more likely than other adults to have HIV.