About Pre Exposure Prophylaxis Prep

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is used to reduce the risk of getting HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

PrEP works by stopping HIV from getting into your body and making copies of itself (replicating). You'll only be protected from HIV infection if there are high enough levels of PrEP in your body, so it's important to take it correctly.

PrEP can be used by anyone from a community or group that is most at risk of HIV, or people who have sex with people from those networks.

You may benefit from taking PrEP if:

you're an HIV-negative man having condomless sex with men, and other people who have sex within these networks
you have a partner (or ex-partner) with HIV
your partner (or ex-partner) comes from a country with high rates of HIV
you have condomless sex with a partner(s) and do not know their HIV status
you're a trans or non-binary person and are regularly having condomless sex
you exchange sex for money, drugs, shelter or another reason
you are injecting drugs

Find out more about who is at risk of getting HIV.

Find out more about other at-risk activities.

PrEP comes as tablets that contain 2 medicines called tenofovir disoproxil and emtricitabine. Both medicines are often also used to treat HIV.

You can get PrEP from a health professional at an NHS sexual health clinic.

Key facts

PrEP does not protect you against other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Common side effects of PrEP include feeling sick (nausea), diarrhoea, bloating, indigestion, headache, feeling tired or weak and sleeping problems. They usually go away after the first couple of weeks.
If you get stomach side effects while taking PrEP, taking it with or just after food may help.
Most people can take PrEP every day but some people can take it on demand (just before and after sex).
If you take PrEP daily for vaginal/frontal sex, it takes 7 days to give maximum protection. If you take it only when you need it for anal sex, you'll be protected about 2 hours after your first double dose.

Sexual Health Advice

Throughout this series we have help and advice on staying healthy, dealing with Sexually Transmitted Infections, the risks of each type of the most popular gay sex and what to do if the sex you have is not consentual. The topics covered in this series include:

	This item was in brought to you association with NHS website. Follow the links above for more information and don't forget to check out OutUK's A to Z of Gay Health which features items on everything from relationships, sexual health, mental and physical conditions and how to stay fit. This week our topic is: L - Lung Cancer.
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