CAB-LA: What you need to know about the injection that prevents HIV
Health experts have developed a new injection that is set to be a game-changer when it comes to HIV prevention.
There were 4,000 new HIV infections every day in 2021, reports the World Health Organisation.
Globally, at least 38-million people are currently living with HIV or AIDS, states UNAIDS.
In South Africa, the first HIV infection case was reported 40 years ago.
A man reportedly contracted the virus while in California, United States in 1982.
To try and curb the spread of the virus, health experts have done a lot of work to come up with several treatments for the deadly infection.
READ: UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO come together to end HIV infections in children by 2030
The latest invention is the new long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA), which is a combination of two medications: cabotegravir and rilpivirine.
The World Health Organisation announced that CAB-LA is safe and a highly effective prevention option for people at substantial risk of HIV infection.
It can be the miracle that the world has been waiting for in terms of preventing the virus that affects tens of millions of people around the world. However, it is currently not yet available and on trial stage.
"Long-acting cabotegravir is a safe and highly effective HIV prevention tool, but isn’t yet available outside study settings,” said Dr Meg Doherty, Director of WHO’s Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes.
“We hope these new guidelines will help accelerate country efforts to start to plan and deliver CAB-LA alongside other HIV prevention options, including oral PrEP and the dapivirine vaginal ring,” she added.
Those wanting to take CAB-LA will receive two injections four weeks apart, followed by one injection every eight weeks.
According to a report by AIDS map, South Africa is expected to begin piloting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2023.
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