Heading abroad? If you’re only going for a short trip and you have enough PrEP to cover you, there’s no need to get in touch. Just make sure you carry some extra pills in case you’re delayed coming back, and keep your PrEP in your carry-on luggage to ensure it doesn’t get lost. Take your prescription bottle with you in case customs officials have any questions about the medication.
If you’re going for a longer trip, get in touch with the Freddie team and we can help you stay protected against HIV on your travels. There’s a few steps you need to go through, and ideally you should start this no later than 4 weeks before you leave.
- Click the “Contact Us” button in the help centre and let us know your departure and return dates, along with how many pills you’ve got left.
- If you haven’t been issued your next lab requisition yet, your clinician may send one depending on how long you’re away for. You can find these in your patient portal under “Lab Requisitions” on the left hand side.
- Go through the usual steps for your routine testing, starting with the questionnaire and ending with your lab feedback form.
- Your clinician will issue a new prescription to your preferred pharmacy.
How many pills you receive is at the discretion of your Freddie clinician. In most cases, they won’t give more than six months of PrEP at a time without our routine testing (usually every 3 months).
Bear in mind that some insurance companies have a maximum amount of medication that they will cover in a single prescription. With PrEP, this is usually a three month supply (90 pills). If you need more than this amount, you might have to reach out to your insurance provider to discuss coverage. There’s a chance you’ll have to pay for some of your PrEP out of pocket.
General travel tips:
Before you go, Google your destination’s laws around importing HIV medications. Websites like this one for Asia and the Pacific region can give you more information. In some cases, there are limits on how many pills you can bring with you.
Some countries criminalize gay sex or discriminate against LGBTQ2S+ people. Some also have travel restrictions for people living with HIV (which can cause issues for PrEP users, since the medications used for PrEP are also used for HIV treatment). It’s a good idea to check all of this beforehand. If any of these apply to your destination, you might want to find a discreet way of packing your pills. To avoid this entirely, you could use condoms as your HIV prevention method while you’re abroad.
If you interrupt your PrEP while you’re away then reach out to us once you’re back – we might have to do some more tests before we get you started again.