Zimbabwe is the first county in Africa to announce regulatory approval for long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV prevention
Today, the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe announced that it has approved the use of long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB-LA) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention. This follows the WHO recommendation, announced in July 2022, that CAB-LA may be offered to people at substantial risk of HIV acquisition as part of comprehensive HIV prevention approaches. Two large studies showed that CAB-LA injections every 2 months were safe, well-tolerated, and highly effective in reducing the risk of HIV acquisition among men who have sex with men and transgender women and among cisgender women. WHO released comprehensive guidelines, calling for countries to consider this effective prevention option, and highlighted the need for implementation science to support its introduction. CAB-LA is the third PrEP product recommended by WHO for HIV prevention. Tenofovir-based oral PrEP was recommended in 2015 and the dapivirine vaginal ring, another long-acting ...