Many Latinos also have concerns about costs and side effects.
But health workers are encountering barriers among many Latinos.Īmong them are a lack of knowledge about the drug and the stigma attached to sleeping with men or perceived promiscuity. The medication, which is used for “Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis” or PrEP, was approved by the FDA in 2012 for HIV prevention and has been shown to be more than 90 percent effective when used correctly.
In California, New York, Texas and elsewhere, health workers are trying to get more high-risk Latino men to use the drug, Truvada. “It hasn’t really hit the Latino community yet,” Jesse Hinostroza, an HIV prevention specialist with AltaMed health clinics, said while sitting at a table with a bowl of condoms and a stack of bilingual pamphlets about the pill. Inside the bar and out, three health workers chatted with customers, casually asking questions: Do you know about the HIV prevention pill? Would you consider taking it? A few men said they had never heard of it. LOS ANGELES – Late on a Friday night at The New Jalisco Bar downtown, a drag show featuring dancers dressed in sequined leotards and feathered headdresses had drawn a crowd - most of them gay Latino men.