Health centers will be able to test and diagnose chlamydia and gonorrhea, the two most common sexually transmitted infections in Europe, the Ministry of Health announced this Monday in a note sent to Lusa.
“The introduction of two new additional diagnostic and therapeutic tools in primary health care, launched in recent days by the Central Health Administration, appears to be associated with increased access to pre-exposure prophylaxis in primary health care, an infection prevention strategy. HIV, which implies the need to monitor other sexually transmitted infections,” the statement said.
Testing for chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) and gonorrhea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) can be carried out at the appropriate local health facility or agreed sector.
The availability of these diagnostics in primary health care creates the conditions for expanding access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which provides reimbursement for the cost of drugs for this purpose and which, as noted by the Ministry of Health, is considered a fundamental public health measure to reduce HIV transmission in order to eliminate this epidemic.
Until now, this medicine was only available at special consultations in hospitals, but now that this measure has come into force, it can now also be prescribed in primary health care settings and at medical consultations available in public organizations, and can also be dispensed in public pharmacies. .
According to the decree approved in December, the contribution is set at 69%, and the price cannot exceed 40 euros per month, with a cost for users of up to 12 euros.
According to the Ministry of Health, 4,500 people in the country are currently taking PrEP, introduced in 2018, and the various interventions are estimated to have contributed to an estimated 38% reduction in new HIV cases over the past five years. years
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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