California.- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed legislation that allows patients to buy HIV-prevention pills without a prescription. Advocates for Senate Bill 159 say California is the first state to authorize pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), without prescriptions.
PrEP is a once-daily pill for HIV-negative people, while PEP is a medicine people take to prevent the virus from taking root. Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, said Senate Bill 159 “is a big improvement to remove a barrier” and helps reduce the stigma around drugs, especially in rural areas and among minorities.
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Nearly 30,000 people in California use PrEP and 6,000 use PEP, according to the California Health Benefits Review Program. The California Medical Association initially opposed the legislation, but became neutral about it after it was modified to limit the number of PrEP pills patients can get without a 60-day doctor’s note, Anthony York said , spokesperson for the association. The association was concerned about “long-term use without medical supervision,” he said. The law also prohibits insurance companies from requiring patients to obtain prior authorization before using insurance to obtain the drugs, removing another obstacle. Pharmacists in California are already authorized to dispense emergency contraceptives and over-the-counter contraceptives. They could get married despite living with HIV in Jalisco
Guadalajara, Jalisco.- People who have The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and intend to marry, could do so in Jalisco as long as they meet certain requirements. An initiative raised by the Prifian Mepute Mariana Fernández was approved in the Committee on Constitutional Points of the State Congress, which, if the House endorses it, would guarantee the right to marriage for people living with HIV/AIDS or any other chronic, incurable or contagious disease that may be life-threatening. According to Assemblyman Fernández, if civil reform is carried out, when a couple intends to marry and one of the members bears the virus, they will be able to realize the legal union provided that it is established that the partners were by a specialist of the scope, effects and prevention of transmission of the disease.
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In addition, the couple must express their interest in marrying knowing the circumstance that one of them lives with HIV.” Chronic, venereal or degenerative diseases are diseases like any other; before this proposal, people with HIV in Jalisco could not get married; now, after medical examinations, the disease is recognized and that the other person knows that their partner has this disease, those interested will be able to marry,” the PRI MEMBER said.
