A Feasibility Literature Review, to Explore the Need to Undertake a Study, to Assess the Level of Knowledge and Awareness of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) as an HIV Prevention Modality, Among Young Adults Attending Institutes of Higher Learning in Durban, Kwa -Zulu Natal, South Africa

Abstract

HIV-AIDS is an alarming health concern both globally and locally which continues to increase, despite efforts to curb the epidemic. The rate of new infections is the greatest in the younger age group between 18-35 years of age with women being more infected than men1. In the absence of a cure for the disease, the mainstay of clinical management involves adherence to lifelong anti-retro viral (ARV) therapy4. Another integral component in trying to decrease new HIV infections is enhancing HIV-AIDS prevention modalities. These approaches have grown through the years and range from local to systemic forms either singly or in combination with other therapies4. An emerging potentially viable option is Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) (5). This form of therapy is the ingestion of a type of ARV on a daily basis by an HIV-Negative individual to remain HIV free. There are several clinical trials ongoing and past that have shown efficacy for use in adults and primarily in young adults. The rollout of PrEP as prevention modality globally has commenced and South Africa stands on the brink of roll out for high risk and young adults through the South African Department of Health ARV treatment programme. It is thus imperative that a study to explore the level of knowledge and awareness of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as an HIV prevention modality among young adults occurs in order to assess readiness for implementation in order to identify potential challenges with recommendations for smart practices.