Emmanuel Cherem, a 25-year-old gay man in Nigeria, tested positive for HIV two months after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration cut access for at-risk groups like gay men and injecting drug users to medication that prevents infection.
Cherem admits he should have been more careful about practicing safe sex but had become accustomed to using the U.S.-supplied pharmaceutical. The drug — known as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP — is typically taken daily as a tablet and can reduce the risk of contracting HIV through sex by 99%.
"I blame myself. ... Taking care of myself is my first duty as a person," Cherem said at his gym in Awka, the capital of Nigeria's southeastern state of Anambra.
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