HIV Morning-After Pill Gets Prominent Play At World Out Games

MONTREAL, CANADA - As Montreal plays host to one of the largest gay sporting events of its kind, health-care officials in the city are promoting the morning-after pill, a combination of drugs said to reduce the risk of HIV infection.
Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is similar to the conventional morning-after pill used to prevent pregnancy in that it's best taken within 72 hours of risky sexual relations. However, unlike the pregnancy prevention pill, it is a month-long course of treatment.
Montreal health officials have orchestrated an extensive media campaign to promote the pill because of the unprecedented large gathering of gays in the city.
The 1st World Outgames — which began Wednesday — is an athletic event geared to gays, lesbians and transgendered athletes. It's been touted as the largest sports gathering to hit Montreal since the 1976 Olympics.
Thousands of gay athletes from around the world are expected to attend.
Dr. Rejean Thomas, president of the Clinique Medicale l'Actuel, said the pill is not intended to be used in place of a condom but as a backup.
"Accidents can happen. We still know that on drugs or alcohol sometimes the safe behaviour diminishes, so it's like another alternative," said Thomas.
The clinic has launched a poster campaign to promote the pill in addition to sponsoring TV advertisements. It's also added extra staff for the course of the games.
The ads for the pill feature images of handsome, athletic men on a rainbow background and read: "Have you had a risky sexual relation? Did the condom break?... Do you know about PEP?"
Drugs don't encourage unsafe sex: doctor
Thomas said there is typically a surge in infection rates of sexually transmitted diseases following large events of this kind.
The HIV infection rate among gay men living in Montreal is estimated to be about 15 per cent and health-care officials in the city say preventing further spread of the virus is paramount.
Thomas does not believe the drugs encourage unsafe sex, noting that 85 per cent of the people who've taken them, have only done so once.
Ken Monteith, the executive director of AIDS community care in Montreal, says he's entirely in favour of the campaign.
"The whole question of PEP might be saving someone from a lifetime of expensive and difficult-to-take medication," he said.
The pill is well known among medical professionals and has long been used in the event of accidental exposure to the virus on the job.
Monteith says it would be helpful if the general public knew more about the drug and its ability to reduce the risk of sexual transmission of HIV.
from CBC News