 What's up you guys right after Ozzie here and today? I want to talk about something that was just launched in recent weeks by the federal government Also known as ready set prep and the goal of this is to ensure that everyone has access to prep and that this is a key Component in the fight against the epidemic I'll talk through who qualifies for this program where you can find out if you qualify and where you can go to get Started on the application process and also where you can go to find local HIV resources So in order to qualify for the ready set prep program You have to be one HIV negative because prep is ineffective for those people who have HIV It's similar to the medicine that people with HIV take also notice PEP, which is post exposure prophylaxis However prep is missing a key ingredient that is necessary for those who already have HIV So prep is short for pre exposure prophylaxis, and it's just that it's for pre exposure Also, you will need a prescription for the medicine from a health care provider And third you have to be someone who does not already have prescription drug coverage The purpose of this program is to give those who do not have health care insurance access to this medication If you qualify for this program and your application is accepted all medications are fully covered However, the cost of necessary clinic visits and lab testings may vary depending on a person's individual income So these are some of the ways you can find out if you qualify for the program You can go and or contact a local AHF pharmacy And AHF can get qualified patients registered and enrolled so they don't have to do that on their own Which is really helpful because sometimes this stuff can seem really overwhelming And there might be some jargon that you're not familiar with and not sure how to answer certain things in the application Stuff like that You can also apply and enroll yourself by going to getyourprep.com So you can apply there and then you can also find local hiv resources where you can get prescription for prep in your area And they also provided a phone number if you're having trouble going through the enrollment process on your own That number is 855-447-8410 So I want to take a little time now to help you guys Go through this process so it doesn't seem overwhelming or if you're a little reluctant hesitant and If you look at the website and it's just like uh, this is kind of a little daunting And i'm not sure how this is going to go I will walk you through some of these steps some of the options so that you can get a better idea Visualize it and take some of that anxiety away from the the whole process So i'm going to start with the first option that I mentioned which was AIDS health care foundation And i'm going to walk you through the steps on the website how you can find a local pharmacy. So let's go Okay, so i'm just going to go ahead and type in AIDS health Dot org and that will take us to the home page for AIDS health care foundation And then you see on the right here. There's a bunch of links to click from service locators the top one click on that That'll open up a new tab and then From here you can just type in Where your located city and state or an actual address I have location turned on in my browser So it automatically finds my location here in LA and then on the left it'll it'll show Each location and what kind of services they provide so you just scroll down until you find an ahf pharmacy There's one in hollywood And it's got the address phone number You can click here for the hours And that's shown on the bottom here and you can just call them and they will guide you through the steps of applying And if you qualify then the steps for enrollment and going from there and getting your prep Really straightforward and easy and it's nice to have someone to talk to who can guide you through the entire process And answer your questions And now i'll show you how you can go through the enrollment process on get your prep dot com All right, so i'm typing in get your prep dot com And now here we are at the home page You're going to click on individual And then fill out your personal information here Uh, you'll notice under medication you have the option for either one of the two prep medications discovia or trupata So i'm just going to choose discovy for now and then fill this out And then on the bottom here you have the option to choose what time is the best time to contact you And then there's two options here basically for privacy So the first one is about whether someone if they call you whether they can leave A detailed message in your voicemail if you're the only one who has access to your voicemail box Then i think that would be okay and you can just say yes If for some reason other people might hear your voicemails and you want to keep it private Then you would hit no and then down here if you don't want anyone to send you physical mail you would Click this box. I don't care about I don't mind getting physical mail And i'm really not worried about other people seeing my mail So i'm just going to leave it unchecked and go to the next page. Okay, and then on this page If you are applying for yourself, you would hit patient If you're 18 or under you have to have a patient representative So then this one is going to have to be clicked and it's supposed to be someone else who is applying for you Here is some authorization And disclosure of personal health information Click that box after reading it and then another one Applicant declarations and authorizations required only if applying for the that's the program we're applying for So i'm going to click that and i opt out of receiving a physical retail pharmacy card I don't see why I would so i'm just going to leave that Unchecked and then signers full name And it'll create a signature for you and then on the next page here the person or physician who prescribed you prep You're going to put their information here Name all of that and whatnot. So presumably you have to have your prescription first before you can complete the application process And that is something that you'll be able to do In the next walkthrough that I show you now when I put in information here on the next screen It searches to see if I have any health coverage and I do so then it ends up telling me that I don't apply for this program But if you don't have health insurance And this clears and your physician's information is all correct Then it should move on to the next step and get you access to prep They also provided another website. It's locator.hiv.gov and that's where you can Type in your area code or your city state and find local hiv services near you Super helpful. So we'll go through that right now too. The web address is locator.hiv.gov And so you get to the screen like this You can either use the location services on your browser to just locate where you are right now And then find services near you or you can type in a specific location. So I'm going to just randomly choose Boulder, Colorado All right, and then it shows a map and it starts populating it with local facilities and Here on the left it kind of shows what each facility Has available as far as services So let me see I'm just going to click on boulder And This one here boulder valley women's health center provides hiv testing and sti testing Let's see this guy here It just says a general health center This one provides hiv testing prep and sti testing. So this one would be good for Getting a prep prescription and it's got the address and phone number So you can go ahead and contact them and you in direction. So pretty easy pretty straightforward So once you get that information here and you're able to go get your prep prescription, then you can go to Getyourprep.com and do the application steps like I showed you and put in your physician The person who prescribed your prep medication put their information in and then continue with the process For approval and get your prep for free. So on the government website hiv.gov They have listed the ending the hiv epidemic a plan for america initiative And it's something that they want to implement in within the next 10 years It's in four stages and those are diagnose treat protect and respond so Diagnose all people with hiv as early as possible treat people with hiv rapidly and effectively to reach sustained viral suppression Which as we know means that we're undetectable and once you're undetectable you are untransmittable So viral suppression is a key component of stopping the hiv epidemic prevent new transmissions This is where prep comes into play In addition to the implied effects of being undetectable and that also being a way of preventing the spread of hiv So prevent new hiv transmissions by using proven interventions Including pre-exposure prophylaxis prep and syringe services programs And then the last stage is respond quickly to potential hiv outbreaks to get needed prevention and treatment services to people who Meet them with the specifics of each individual stage implies I don't know it doesn't say on on the breakdown But today we're just focusing on the prevention stage which has to do with prep in particular So their goal as they have listed is to reduce the number of hiv infections by 75 percent In the next five years and at least 90 percent in the next 10 years, which is a huge feat It's a huge goal, but it's I think it's definitely attainable by implementing Multi-pronged strategy that not is just about prep But also includes undetectability on the part of those with hiv on having access to healthcare treatment Educating reducing stigma. I mean it's going to take a lot of work Um, not any one of these things is going to achieve that goal in the next five ten years But I think this is a major step in the right direction And I think especially helping those people who have financial difficulties and don't have access to healthcare That this is going to play a key role. So one of my concerns, however, yes, we have access to prep now So the access to care is a huge component of that for those who are hiv negative But we can't forget that there's also the components of education and stigma reduction that are necessary for people to actually take action and to adhere to The solutions that are available to us because yes, there may be solutions available resources But if we're not educated and if we are caught up in fear and stigma, then those resources won't be used That's been a huge problem even for those people who are living with hiv because they lack education Or because the stigma is so bad people have chosen not to remain adherent to their medication and therefore You know fall ill and and many people die of AIDS Unnecessarily even though that there's access to that medication and to healthcare services There's been articles that I saw recently in the last couple days One by the washington post talking about facebook ads being a huge culprit in spreading negative misinformation about prep These ads are typically posted by legal groups And they are searching for people who have had negative experiences with hiv drugs To formulate class action lawsuits and they're talking about all these negative effects And the problem is that a lot of people who are hiv negative who see these ads Assume that this applies to prep as well And that it's inherently dangerous to be taking this medication if they'll have liver kidney problems But the data and the facts show that especially in prep It's extremely extremely safe for people and it does not in majority of people have negative effects And it's reiterated on the government website. It's safe to take prep So the inadvertent reaction from a lot of these facebook ads is now people are afraid of prep People think that the drug is inherently unsafe and that they're going to have all these negative Reactions in their kidney their liver and who knows what else bone density loss stuff like that now I've experienced bad side effects with pep, which is post exposure prophylaxis For someone who already has hiv. I've had very bad side effects and previous medications that were Not as well developed as they are today have given me really bad side effects in my kidney and my liver Um have bone density loss as well, but the thing is with prep. It's missing that key part of the medication It's missing a drug that is necessary for those with hiv It's not necessary for those which with without hiv and just use as um protection measure That key component is what is causing most of the toxicity and the negative side effects So for prep, it's much cleaner and much more tolerable And safer to take and is safe to take as stated on the government website and in many studies So in light of everything that I do on this channel, it's really important to me to communicate to you guys this Huge resource that is now available to so many people who otherwise would be like I can't afford the treatment I don't have health and care insurance and feel um, you know disenfranchised because of that fact Now there's a solution. This is really really really cool really awesome And it's going to be a huge factor in ending the hiv epidemic here in the us at least So for those of you who have been curious about prep who are now curious about prep and would like to get a hold on it Please visit those websites visit some resources and get started on that process because this is all about self care self love, you know protecting our health We only have one life And this is just something you can do to add to your regimen to make sure that you are staying protected and safe And helping to stop the hiv epidemic. I'm really hopeful about it. I'm excited about it I think there's going to be way more great things coming down the pipeline. We're constantly seeing improvements advancements in the medicine Now there's disco v. It's not just true vada that's available for prep So you have two options now and it does give you the option on the government website to choose from the two So do your research into those if you guys want me to do more in-depth research into the two drugs so that you can Make a more informed decision. I would be more than happy to do that Please let me know in the comments below like this video if you liked it I will definitely do a follow-up on this and elaborate more on the program and other facets of the program Please let me know what you think. Let's start this discussion What do you think is this going to be a major key component in ending the hiv epidemic in the us? Let me know your thoughts. Love to hear it. Stay tuned. As always got a lot more great content coming for you peace guys