CLEVELAND — Akeem Rollins said he’s passionate about HIV prevention and treatment.
“I work with doctors, providers, community members and community-based organizations, anyone who could meet or benefit from PrEP,” Rollins said.
Rollins said some of the most promising developments are with emerging treatments that can be taken before exposure, known as “PrEP.”
“There are two choices. There is Truvada, which also has a generic available, and there’s Descovy, that’s oral PrEP. But, there’s also a PrEP called Apretude where you get an injection bi-monthly,” Rollins said.
Rollins is a PrEP Navigator at MetroHealth Medical Center, meaning he spreads awareness about the medicine that can prevent HIV.
“Taking PrEP is one of the ways that we can essentially get rid of the virus,” Rollin said. “We can get rid of HIV and prevent new HIV infections.”
It is a medication that he wished more people knew about.
“If you are sexually active, you should be seeking PrEP, period,” Rollins said.
He added that it’s important to know that HIV doesn’t discriminate based on gender, sexuality, color, race or creed. He believes misinformation about the virus has led to misunderstanding.
“I want to be clear that you can get HIV from someone who has HIV. You don’t just spontaneously develop HIV. Again, another failure of our education system,” Rollins said. “Some people think just by having sex, you can get [a sexually transmitted infection], but the person you have sex with has to have the STI for you to be at risk at all.”
Rollins said he became passionate about HIV outreach as he learned more about his sexuality.
“I came out really young and when I came out, I was constantly told, ‘You’re going to get HIV,’ among other horrible things. And I’m, when I say really young, I mean I was 12, so I didn’t know what that meant,” Rollins said.
He said HIV is still a very real health concern that has impacted people he knows and loves.
“There’s this idea that, ‘Oh, no one’s dying from HIV or no one’s dying from AIDS-related illness anymore,'” Rollins said. “My prom date actually died.”
Rollins said that death, from a cancer that often impacts people with immune deficiencies like HIV, is what sparked his motivation to help others.
“I think that it keeps coming down to education. When HIV first hit, there was this idea that it was, it only affected gay men. And now that we know that, that’s not true,” Rollins said.
He said an early diagnosis could lead to faster treatment, and that’s why National HIV Testing Day is important.
More information about HIV testing is available on the Ohio Department of Health’s website. Local health districts can be looked up to find out where testing is available.
