The public at large and many medical practitioners are still in the dark about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment after sexual assault — despite provision for it in government policy, Gender Links said on Wednesday.
Gender Links, an NGO specialising in boosting gender awareness in the media, said it and about 25 other NGOs researched PEP awareness during the recent Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence and the results do not paint a pretty picture.
”An overwhelming finding of the study is [that] the low level of information about PEP both among the public and health workers, as well as the secretive attitude of health facilities towards PEP does not augur well for public awareness on this issue,” Gender Links director Colleen Lowe-Morna told a media briefing in Bruma, Johannesburg.
Despite the fact that, unlike nevirapine, the efficacy of PEP has never been questioned and it is government policy that the drugs should be readily available at all public health facilities, the research has found that the availability and administration of PEP is patchy.
In addition it is not accompanied by the counselling that women and children need in the face of the double trauma of being sexually assaulted and having to deal with the possibility — if not probability — of being infected with HIV/Aids as well.
The purpose of taking PEP after sexual assault is to help minimise the risk of getting HIV/Aids. Patients must start taking the medication within 72 hours (about three days) of the sexual violation.
The full course lasts 28 days and must be followed up with tests three and six months afterwards.
Morna-Lowe said the cost of the treatment is R600. — Sapa