One Man’s Perspective on How PrEP Is Transforming HIV Prevention for Black Men
If PrEP, the life-saving, breakthrough drug that blocks transmission of HIV, were a pop star, it would be in its breakout era. And Akeem Touré would be a fan who embraced it before it was cool.
For the last six years, Touré, social media strategist for CNP and owner of NCRWD Creative, has taken the drug. After taking a daily pill, he recently switched to the long-acting injectable form, one that requires a doctor’s visit about every other month. He’ll tell almost anyone who asks — and they must ask; “it’s definitely not an icebreaker,” Touré says — that he takes PrEP, and more sexually active Black men like him should do the same, gay or straight.
"It's easier than you think to [acquire] HIV,” he says. “It's easier than you think to prevent HIV.” He’s not alone in spreading the word.
In April, R&B singer and reality TV star Tamar Braxton, for example, blew up the internet after announcing on social media that she’s taking the drug; in July, at Essence Fest, she made headlines by announcing a new endorsement deal with Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical giant and one of the drug’s manufacturers.
Yet even as the spotlight grows, PrEP uptake remains disturbingly low, particularly the injectable version, and especially among Black men, despite disproportionately high HIV diagnosis rates. Channeling his frustration, Touré is working to change that, one candid conversation at a time.
“Our people perish for the lack of knowledge,” he says. ”There's a huge information gap on PrEP and who should be taking it, and what the side effects are, and how easy it is to access it. And because of that, we've seen particularly high numbers in the Black community.”
“There’s a huge information gap on PrEP and who should be taking it, and what the side effects are, and how easy it is to access it.”
Given his experience, the decision to take PrEP after close friends’ HIV diagnoses, transitioning from a once-daily pill to less frequent, more discreet injections, The Reckoning wanted to know more about Touré’s journey. We sat down for a conversation, which has been written and edited for clarity.
Image courtesy of subject
The Reckoning: Tell us your thinking around your decision to take PrEP in 2016. Why did you make that choice?
Akeem Touré: It was a combination of a few different things. One, a conversation with my doctor, and two, just really experiencing diagnoses of friends and people that I know, friends who were diagnosed with HIV. And really getting serious about taking control of my own health.
TR: That must have hit hard.
Touré: Yeah. I always had that thought, ‘That could have been me,’ or easily could have been me in several cases. One of my friends is a heterosexual male and he has HIV. So it was important for me to have that conversation [with my doctor] and find out what options were available to me.
TR: Was it a difficult conversation?
Touré: No, surprisingly simple. Of course, my doctor already knows pretty much all of my business. I think she might have brought it up first, and at first, I might have said no, thinking, ‘I use condoms. I don't need that.’ And then, life teaches you that that's not always safe. Condom usage is not 100%. Something can happen to make that null and void.
TR: You started with the pill, then recently moved to injectable PrEP, which eliminates a bottle of pills on the medicine cabinet. Why did you switch? Was it because of the stigma of taking a pill associated with living with HIV?
Touré: The ease of being able to get the injection once every two months vs taking a pill every day was almost a no-brainer for me. [An injection] decreases the probability for a missed dosage. It was never a thing for me that was like, ‘Oh, this is a queer disease’ or a queer thing. It was always open. Anybody could [be diagnosed with HIV]. It genuinely was something that I knew affected the entire Black community.
TR: What kind of feedback do you usually get?
Touré: I won't say that I wasn't choosy in who I had those conversations [about taking PrEP] with, because not everybody understands. But I also don't have those kinds of deep, intimate conversations with just anybody.
I've had no negative comments or statements made about it. In fact, there's usually more curiosity. That allows me the opportunity to share my viewpoint on why it's important for me and why I think it's important for others to take PrEP.
TR: Talk more about that.
Touré: When Tamar came out and said she was on PrEP, it was a shock. But the conversations that I was having were, like, ‘It shouldn't be a shock.’ Black women are at risk for a number of reasons. They're contracting [HIV] from their heterosexual partners.
“There are so many tools that other communities have, because they have the resources and they have the institutional knowledge to pass those things on ... Speaking up, I feel like it’s partly being respectful of my ancestors to seek that knowledge and to share that knowledge.”
TR: Why do you think Black men like you aren’t taking PrEP at higher rates? What do you think is standing between them and the drug?
Touré: I definitely think the [healthcare] system is not set up to see everyone healthy and to see everyone win. If that were the case, the drug companies would be out of a job. So it doesn't surprise me that the people probably most at risk for [HIV] may have the most trouble accessing it.
I think there's a stigma. I also think there is probably just a lack of knowledge. One [stereotype] is that Black men don't go to the doctor, and there's no way for you to really get PrEP if you're not seeing a doctor. But there may be a stigma about being honest with your doctor about all the different types of sex that you're having. The doctor doesn't have a reason [to prescribe it] because they don't put you in the risk category if you don't share everything.
TR: You’re not an activist, but you’ve been willing to speak up. Why do you feel this is so important?
Touré: What fuels me to go after those things is that people don't want [Black people] to know about [them]. That's true in finances, that's true in leadership and in soft skills, and it's true in sexual health. There are so many tools that other communities have, because they have the resources and they have the institutional knowledge to pass those things on. For whatever reason, our community has been disadvantaged at doing the same.
Speaking up, I feel like it's partly being respectful of my ancestors to seek that knowledge and to share that knowledge.
Joseph Williams is The Reckoning’s Race & Health Editor. A seasoned journalist, political analyst and essayist, Williams has been published in a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and US News & World Report.
A California native, Williams is a graduate of the University Of Richmond and a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He lives and works in metro Washington, D.C.