Women are overlooked for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis under Australian guidelines and risk being left behind in the race to eliminate HIV transmission, according to sexual health physicians.

Currently, daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended for men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender patients, people who inject drugs, and heterosexual men and women who met risk criteria such as condomless sex with a serodiscordant partner who has a detectable viral load.

But Wollongong GP and sexual health physician Dr Caroline Lade said cisgender women who did not identify as heterosexual were missing out on treatment.

“That might include bisexual women or lesbian women who may also have male sexual partners,” she told AusDoc.