May 14 should have been PrEP’s big coming out moment. That’s when the federal government issued new guidelines urging doctors to adopt the use of PrEP – a powerful tool that when used daily is over 90% effective in preventing new HIV infections. But for most gay Americans, the news hardly registered. As a longtime HIV/AIDS advocate, I was puzzled. After all, these guidelines represent a huge victory for HIV prevention advocates who have championed PrEP’s wider use since its initial FDA approval in 2012. The U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the treatment be prescribed for a number of at-risk populations, including men who have sex with other men who have practiced condom less sex, people whose partners are HIV-positive, and people whose partners are at high-risk for infection. Daily use of PrEP (or pre-exposure prophylaxis, consisting of taking the pill Truvada) is safe and has few side effects. In combination with traditional prevention techniques, it can be an amazing tool in our fight against HIV/AIDS.

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