All the applicant couples will benefit from free pre-exposure prophylaxis in case of HIV as from 2018. The treatment will be administered to prevent the transmission of the virus when one of the partners is HIV-infected. Throughout life, the infected person will have to daily take a pill that contains three preparations, while the non-infected person will take a pill that contains two preparations during three months. Later, the non-infected person can give up the treatment if the partner has a zero virus concentration in the blood and will not represent a source of infection for the other one.
Iurie Climashevschi, coordinator of the national HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases prevention and control program, has told IPN that in the case of a couple between a man and a woman, if the man is the infected one, the woman will be able to give birth to children if this antiretroviral treatment is received.
According to him, the treatment starts to have an effect after at least two weeks. Until now, only the infected persons, not yet their partners, could receive this treatment as there was no legal basis regulating the procedure. The World Health Organization recommended introducing this treatment that already turned out to be very efficient. “It is one thing to take a pill a day and it is another thing to use the condom as a method of protection against the virus. The cost of these preparations is very low, but the effect is great,” stated Iurie Climashevschi.
To start the treatment, the infected persons will have tests to determine the infection level. The virus concentration in the blood will be then regularly checked. Those interested can go to one of the four HIV/AIDS treatment centers, in Balti, Cahul, Chisinau and in the penitentiary system.
The coordinator of the national program noted that the protocol that will enable to provide the treatment is close to being approved by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection. The medicines will be brought from India. These will be generic products prequalified by the WHO in terms of quality.
