Minister for Health Chris Fearne has confirmed that “PrEP medications will form part of the new sexual health policy once concluded”.

This comes after it was unveiled that Malta has one of the highest rates of HIV diagnoses in the EU, according to a new report based on figures from 2020.

In 2019, Malta also had the highest rate of recorded cases, with 80 diagnoses of HIV registered.

Lovin Malta enquired on whether the Government will start to provide PEP and PrEP medications in light of the new report, in questions sent into the Ministry of Health.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health also reiterated that “discussions on a new sexual health policy are ongoing”. 

Malta’s sexual health policy hasn’t been updated since 2010, and its update has already been pushed forward twice.

The first updated version was supposedly meant to come out in 2020 and was pushed forward because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then it was meant to come out earlier this year in March, but it was postponed once again.

Malta clearly does not afford for the sexual health policy to be kept on the back burner for much longer, especially in light of such figures.

What do you make of this?