Government launches HIV prevention program

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNN) – A national program to provide free preventative drugs to uninsured Americans at risk of HIV was announced on Tuesday.

The program is called Ready, Set, PrEP.

To qualify, participants must test negative for HIV, have a valid prescription for the medication, and not have any prescription drug coverage.

The drugs will be donated by Gilead Sciences, makers of the only two medications currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The company will donate over two million bottles annually enough to treat 200,000 Americans for the next 11 years.

President Trump set the goal to end the HIV epidemic in his February State of the Union speech.

In May, he announced the agreement with Gilead.

The initiative aims to reduce new HIV infections by 75% in the next 5 years. By the end of the decade, the goal is to reduce new infections by 90%.

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