In a landmark move aimed at transforming HIV prevention across the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has announced the widespread rollout of a groundbreaking twice-yearly injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), expanding access to this life-changing intervention across 14 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region. This expansion marks a critical step forward in addressing long-standing gaps in HIV prevention, offering a highly effective, low-burden alternative to daily oral PrEP that has the potential to drastically reduce new infection rates among at-risk populations.
Unlike daily oral pills, which require consistent adherence that can be challenging for many people to maintain over time, the long-acting injectable version only needs to be administered twice a year. This discreet, convenient format removes many of the structural and social barriers that have prevented millions of people from accessing consistent HIV prevention, including stigma around daily medication use, difficulty remembering daily doses, and limited access to regular pharmacy refills.
The 14 countries participating in the initial rollout span the Caribbean and South and Central America, a region that has seen stubbornly persistent HIV transmission rates in recent decades, particularly among key populations including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, and young people living in high-prevalence areas. PAHO officials have emphasized that expanding access to this new prevention tool is central to the region’s goal of ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030, a target aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The rollout is supported by partnerships between global health funding bodies, national ministries of health, and local community organizations, which are working together to train healthcare workers, scale up distribution networks, and outreach to at-risk communities who stand to benefit most from the intervention. Public health experts note that this expansion represents not just a technological win for HIV prevention, but a major equity win, bringing an innovative, high-impact health tool to a region that has often been left behind in the global rollout of new medical innovations.