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Inside the ‘miracle’ drug rollout that could end Aids

The Independent·Bel Trew·27 days ago
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L ianne was just 13 when she lost her parents to Aids. Newly orphaned, she had to find a way to keep herself and her younger sister alive. With no money to finish school, unable to find a job and struggling to put food on the table, there was only one option – sex work. Now 24, she knows the dangers in Eswatini, a kingdom in southern Africa once described as the epicentre of the HIV epidemic and a country still struggling with some of the highest infection rates in the world. “Both my parents passed away. Hunger led me to join this work although I know it’s risky,” Lianne says, explaining that she earns under £25 a week. She is unable to acquire HIV preventative medication – known as PrEP – on her own. But there is now hope in the form of lenacapavir – dubbed the “miracle” drug – which the United Nations hopes can protect millions of people like Lianne and even end the Aids epidemic altogether.…

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