A woman receives medication at a clinic offering antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients in Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa.

A woman receives medication at a clinic offering antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients in Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa.

I get the shots and I just basically forget about my HIV for the rest of the month and just live my normal life like anyone else.".

Monica Gandhi who runs Ward 86, an HIV clinic at the University of California San Francisco, says the advent of long-acting injectable drugs both for treatment and as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for prevention is a significant event in the history of HIV.

"There is this aspect of stigma," Gandhi says about taking HIV pills.

But Gandhi says adherence has been the Achilles' heel of oral, daily PrEP up to this point.

A large clinical trial of an injectable PrEP that just wrapped up earlier this month in sub-Saharan Africa found that a shot every two months was nine times more effective at preventing HIV infections than the traditional daily pill.

In places like South Africa, where nearly 20% of all adults are HIV positive, new forms of prevention could be pivotal in battling the epidemic.

says if given the option, she'd take the injectable PrEP.

Neluonde works as a telecommunications consultant during the day and at night she's studying for an accounting degree at the University of South Africa