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Californians Can Now Get PrEP Delivered to Their Doors, No Doctor's Visit Required

An app billing itself as "Uber for birth control" plans to start delivering the HIV preventative medication, and will even send doctors out to conduct blood tests.
Still from our documentary 'Stopping HIV? The Truvada Revolution'

Read: Why Isn't a Revolutionary HIV Medication Getting to Sex Workers?

Nurx—the mobile app that's been delivering birth control straight to Californians' doors since January 2016—is now providing Truvada for PrEP, the daily medication that can prevent chances of contracting HIV by more than 90 percent, the Guardian reports.

The idea behind the app is that doctor's visits—and the associated cost, travel time, and stigma—can be a barrier to people who need contraception and PrEP. And reportedly, only 21,000 people out of the 1.2 million who should be taking PrEP are actually using it, meaning that anything that gets the pills into the hands of more at-risk people is a good thing.

For Californians who want PReP, all they'll need to do is fill out a health questionnaire using Nurx—which a remote doctor will assess—and complete a blood test for HIV and renal function. The app is even streamlining that process by sending phlebotomists in Ubers to do the blood test at home.