Drug is risk blocker

PRE-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an anti-retroviral therapy-based HIV prevention strategy to prevent or reduce the risk of HIV infection in adults who are high risk.

PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99 per cent when taken as prescribed.

Since the first version of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) was introduced in the late 1980s, it has saved millions of lives.

The chart shows the annual number of deaths from HIV/AIDS, and the number of deaths averted as a result of ART.

Globally, one million people died from HIV/ AIDS in 2016; but even more deaths – 1.2 million – were averted with ART.

Without it, more than twice as many people would have died from HIV/ AIDS.