HIV PrEP in Scotland: July 2017 to December 2019

On 23 June 2020, Public Health Scotland (PHS) published its first report on the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) minimum dataset, which has been developed through collaboration between Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Data are presented for Scotland for the period from 1 July 2017, when Scotland’s NHS-funded HIV PrEP programme was implemented, to 31 December 2019.

The findings indicate that over the first two and a half years of the HIV PrEP programme in Scotland, approximately 53,000 individuals have attended sexual health clinics at least once during each calendar quarter. Of the 2,560 individuals attending between October and December 2019 and who were prescribed PrEP, 97% (2,486) were men who have sex with men (MSM). Eighteen transgender individuals/trans people, fewer than 10 heterosexual men and fewer than five heterosexual women were also prescribed PrEP during the same period. Work is being led by the national PrEP coordination group to improve equity of access and PrEP awareness among women, trans men, trans women, non-binary people, heterosexual men and people who inject drugs with concomitant sexual risk, while considering alternative service models aimed at providing access to PrEP for others who may benefit.