Kathmandu, Aug. 6 -- Thousands of female sex workers, gay men and people who inject drugs have been without access to pre-exposure prophylaxis for the past 19 months after the medication was discontinued since the US government halted USAID-funded programmes worldwide.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis is a highly effective HIV prevention medicine taken by people at higher risk of infection to reduce chances of contracting HIV through unprotected sex or injectable drug use.

The suspension of the USAID-funded programme has left hundreds of at-risk populations, including pregnant women whose husbands are HIV-positive, without access to the medicine.

"We don't have our own programme to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis medication to the at-risk pop...