When I first meet Mario* he’s wearing a bullet-shaped pill holder on the buckle of his belt. He’s just come back from a check -up with his HIV doctor, and he shows me the three-months’ supply of pills he’s just collected from the sexual health clinic. “It’s important not to miss a dose. If I’m out at the weekend and have sex, I know I’ll always have the pills with me” he says, pointing to the pill holder at his waist.
The importance of taking HIV medication at the right time has been drummed into gay men with HIV for the past two decades. But Mario doesn’t have HIV. He, like an increasing number of gay men, especially in the US, is taking a daily dose of Truvada (a one-pill combination of two HIV drugs more commonly used to treat HIV in those already infected), to prevent getting HIV.
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