Orlando – With little fanfare – aside from some headlines from a Los Angeles public radio outlet earlier this month – Planned Parenthood appears to be stepping into the HIV prevention world. While the newest Planned Parenthood Los Angeles clinic, which just opened in West Hollywood, will be offering both PrEP and PEP (pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis) at their clinics, joining 27 other clinics nationwide, Central Florida and Southwest Florida Planned Parenthood affiliates are slowly rolling out their HIV prevention plans. Since July, Dr. Suzie Prabhakaran, Vice President of Medical Affairs of Planned Parenthood of Central and Southwest Florida, says local clinics have been prescribing the drugs for those most in need of them.
“It’s been a service that I don’t think people are aware that we offer. I think, in part, because of that, we haven’t had a lot of patients coming in requesting it,” she says. “I want the word out that we can do that.”
Though controversial due to perceptions that the medication encourages unprotected sex, PrEP has been proven to be radically effective in preventing the spread of HIV in many studies. But it’s not for everyone and it is a commitment, Prabhakaran says.
“At first it really like a visit that someone would come in for sexually transmitted diseases,” she says. “There are a number of categories that would indicate if you’re a candidate for PrEP. There’s some blood work that needs to be done, some baseline HIV testing that needs to be done. There’s medical history that we need to have especially about kidney function we require. It’s actually a medication we offer where follow-up is really important. We want to be sure that patients are going to be able to follow-up.
As for the stigmas that come with sexual activity, Planned Parenthood remains “free of judgment,” she says. “I don’t think we’re at where we want to be about people being comfortable talking about their sexuality, but that said, we of all places want to be the place where people can be comfortable.”
