The Food and Drug Administration this week approved an injectable drug that helps prevent the spread of HIV. It only has to be taken once every eight weeks, compared to a daily oral pill.
The drugs only need to be taken a few times a year — and may soon be available in many parts of the world. Patients say they are more convenient and less stigmatizing.
For people at high risk of HIV, taking a daily dose of a prevention drug is essential. But many can't afford it. A new federal program makes the drugs available for free.
Thrive SS, an HIV support program by and for black men, credits its popularity to its grassroots approach. But the model, which focuses on forming a social networks, misses out on federal funding.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says people at high risk of being infected with HIV should be offered a daily pill containing antiretroviral medications. The drug's cost remains a hurdle.
In the 1980s, ACT UP demanded action from the U.S. government and got results with drama. AIDS activists today have fresh tactics for their new goal: a more affordable HIV prevention pill.
As head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar is charged with making Trump's plan to end HIV in the U.S. by 2030 work. "We have an historic opportunity," he tells NPR.
More than half the new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. are in Southern states, where the rates among gay and bisexual black men remain stubbornly high, despite the existence of medicine to stop the virus.
Trump's plan includes a focus on fighting HIV in the rural Midwest and South. But there are doubts in Oklahoma, where the state's uninsured rate and stigmatization of HIV are high.
After gay and bisexual men, black women are the group at highest risk for HIV transmission. Here's how women are teaching each other about the most effective ways to prevent infection.
