The PrEP response in England: enabling collective action through public health and PrEP commodity activism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on testimonies from oral history interviews with HIV/AIDS community activists and PrEP users, this paper analyses new forms of collective action in relation to the efforts to implement PrEP in England. The analysis of this PrEP response, delivered by an assemblage of independent actors and public health-related agents exposes three important aspects in relation to the lived experiences of first-wave PrEP users and HIV activists: (i) the negotiation of PrEP as a medical commodity, (ii) the use of gay dating apps as enabling technologies in regard to peer support, and (iii) the fact that access to PrEP was not equally distributed and differed between gay communities. This paper concludes that although this response was effective in decreasing HIV infection, it was only partially transformative in terms of social/health justice. However, the response featured forms of collective action that contrasted with the individualistic paradigm of the biomedicalisation of HIV prevention, pointing to a shift in future HIV prevention interventions.