AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) welcomes the decision by the European Union to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by 20% in the bloc by 2030. As part of the push, the strategy should discourage widespread use of pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis as the primary method of prevention for sexually transmitted infections (STI) in favor of promoting consistent condom use.
“Wealthy countries are courting another public health disaster by abandoning condoms and shifting STI prevention to bio-medical interventions. An over-reliance on antibiotics is incubating treatment resistant strains of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis at an alarming rate. If conventional drugs begin to fail on a population level, these once common, treatable bacteria might turn into deadly diseases,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “Condoms must be a part of the solution to addressing AMR because repeated bacterial exposure inevitably leads to drug resistance, and only barrier protection can help ensure antibiotics remain a viable treatment tool in the long run.”
