Key Summary
- Northern Ireland to introduce CAB-LA injections for HIV prevention
- Jabs offer a discreet, two-monthly alternative to daily PrEP pills
- Experts believe they will widen access and aid the UK’s 2030 HIV-free goal
Northern Ireland will soon offer the cabotegravir (CAB-LA) injections to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
These injections are already approved in England, Wales and Scotland as well.
They are administered once in every two months to replace daily prevention pills or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Compared to the pills, the jabs are easier to access and far more discreet, avoiding the impracticality or embarrassment of parents or housemates discovering the medication.
It is a good alternative for people who cannot afford daily pills.
After it was made available in other parts of the UK, campaigners had pushed for Northern Ireland to follow suit.
The Department of Health has confirmed the treatment will be rolled out soon.
“It could make HIV prevention much more widely accessible,” said the Rainbow Project’s chief executive Scott Cuthbertson.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has completed delivering its final guidance on the CAB-LA jab administration to the Department of Health.
The Health Department stated that it "has now begun the process of formally endorsing the NICE guidance so that eligible patients in Northern Ireland may receive this treatment".
Experts hope that these jabs will help end HIV in the UK by 2030.
