Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On PrEP, I agree this is a really important area. As the Deputy knows, Ireland established a national HIV PrEP programme in November 2019. PrEP clinics are provided within 13 of the free STI clinics and 17 private GP providers are approved to prescribe free PrEP medication. In 2022, 4,314 individuals had their PrEP eligibility approved via the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS and 3,388 individuals had a PrEP prescription filled at least once, of whom 1,240 had their first ever prescriptions. There have been changes to the international guidelines. These widened the access criteria for PrEP. Consideration is now being given to incorporate the resulting unmet demand. That will be part of the new strategy as well and will also be considered in the Estimates process. It is important we expand that.

I will come back in on the roll-out of it, but there is much good work happening in that space as well.

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