Preparing for Pre-Exposure Prophlyaxis

HIV Prevention: Why Faith Matters
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Faith leaders have been at the front lines of efforts to mitigate the effects of AIDS since the earliest days of the epidemic, providing care and treatment, supporting orphans, and advocating for prevention. However, the relationship between the faith sector and the public health community has often been tenuous and has occasionally been oppositional.

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CIFA and HIV Prevention

In March 2011, CIFA began a multi-country research study on how religious leaders can be involved in the implementation of a new biomedical approach to HIV prevention. This approach is called pre-exposure prophlyaxis (PrEP) and involves the use of antiretroviral medications (ARVs) by HIV-negative individuals to prevent HIV acquisition.

Download the full report here

 

Key Findings:

Through a series of multi-faith consultations with religious leaders in Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, several key lessons emerged:

  1. Religious leaders can be important and powerful allies in PrEP implementation (upon clinical approval)
  2. Engagement with religious leaders must happen in accordance with the values and language of faith
  3. Religion is not the primary determinant of attitudes towards HIV prevention or PrEP

An opportunity currently exists to roll out PrEP in a way that maximizes the synergies between public health and religious communities.

 

Click here to learn more about CIFA's PrEP-work. 

 

CIFA would like to thank the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
at Georgetown University for their support of this project.
For more information about CIFA's HIV/AIDS work, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Research Partners