Overview

PrEPnu started as a grassroots initiative in 2015. A group of men lost their patience with the lack of action from politicians and professionals, and decided it was time for action to make PrEP available in The Netherlands. While the founding group included representatives of other organisations (HIV Vereniging, Aidsfonds, COC, Poz&Proud), we always steered our own independent course. We still value our roots as a community initiative, not tied to any formal organisations. PrEPnu aims to ensure easily available PrEP and PrEP-related care for anyone in the Netherlands who needs it. Our focus is on the LGBT community, primarily gay and bi men, because PrEP has the highest added value for them. However, our goals are not limited to this group. As a community initiative, we are mostly active in our community. We inform people about PrEP through outreach at parties and other events, where we provide basic information, and through workshops where we can go more in-depth. We also actively lobby with politics and professionals, helping them to establish a good official system for PrEP. Easy access to PrEP is a very concrete goal, but it is not an isolated one. There are several underlying reasons why we think this is such an important topic. Of course, getting the HIV epidemic under control is one motivation. But another motivation is to remove the fear of HIV, which is a reality for many gay and bi men, and thereby increase their sexual health. Finally, we also aim to reduce taboos around the sexual experience of gay and bi men, and to fight against HIV stigma.