Kampala — THE AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) is to launch a five-year clinical trial on preventing the spread of HIV among discordant couples.

Discordance is where one partner is HIV positive and the other negative. The Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEp) HIV prevention strategy will involve giving a pill to the negative partner to prevent him or her from contracting the virus.

"The trial is seeking to establish the effectiveness of PeEp on negative partners living in discordant relationships," said Dr. Jonathan Wangisi the deputy director of TASO in charge of research.

About half of people living with HIV/AIDS are living in discordant relationships.