New Brazilian government dismisses director of the HIV prevention department
Sanitary doctor Adele Benzaken was dismissed yesterday (January 11th) from her position as director of Brazil’s Department of Surveillance, Prevention and Control of STIs, HIV, and Viral Hepatitis, in the Ministry of Health.
Under her administration, the country started implementing Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), which consists in the use of drugs to prevent disease, most usually HIV/AIDS, in people who have not yet been exposed to the disease-causing agent, but are in higher-than-average risk of contracting it. In the case of HIV/AIDS, that includes sexually active adults (especially men who have sex with men), people who engage in injection drug use, and couples in which one is seropositve but the other isn’t.
Brazil’s Ministry of Health claimed the change was due to a renewal of the team, and that Adele was invited to continue contributing to the formulation of policies for the sector. Luiz Henrique Mandetta, the new minister, has previously criticized the policy in action, saying HIV prevention should not be done in a way that “offends families” or is interpreted by them as an “invasion” by the State in their homes. He also claimed PrEP shouldn’t be made the policy, because it would “trivialize” the disease and be akin to saying “you can have a risky behavior, because the State will give you a little pill to solve it”.
According to a 2016 meta-analysis by Fonner et al., PrEP significantly reduced HIV acquisition across populations, had adverse effects similar to placebo, and was not associated with changes or increase in risky sexual behavior. A 2017 study by Jennes et al. and another by Cambiano et al. conclude that even an increase in risky sexual behavior would not avert the cost-benefit of PrEP at population levels.
Taking over the management of the department is Gerson Pereira.
Source.