Pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness, use, and intention to use in a regional sample of Latin American geosocial networking application users in 2018–2019

Abstract

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) access is increasing in Latin America. We explored PrEP use among Spanish-speaking, Hornet geosocial networking application users from Latin American countries with limited PrEP data via an online survey completed between December 2018 and February 2019. A total of 718 Hornet users from 10 countries were included, of whom 72.1% reported PrEP awareness. Few (5.6%) were currently taking PrEP, though 32.1% intended to take PrEP in the subsequent 6 months. PrEP awareness was lower in 18–25 year olds compared to 26+ (62.4% vs. 75.6%, aOR 0.67, [95% CI 0.46–0.97]), and higher among those living in larger versus smaller cities (74.4% vs. 58.8%, aOR 1.96, [95% CI 1.25–3.07]) or countries with at least partial versus no PrEP policy adoption (79.1% vs. 60.8%, aOR 2.20, [95% CI 1.56–3.12]). Intention to use PrEP was higher among PrEP-eligible respondents (51.8% vs. 29.6%, aOR 2.26, [95% CI 1.26–4.07]) and those recently tested for a sexually transmitted infection (35.4% vs. 25.5%, aOR 1.58, [95% CI 1.01–2.48]). Efforts to expand PrEP use in Latin America should focus on national PrEP policy adoption, and research should explore barriers to awareness and use among young men who have sex with men.

Descripción de la experiencia de un programa de Profilaxis preexposición (PrEP) a VIH en Medellín, Colombia

“…investigaciones a nivel internacional coinciden en que la PrEP es una medida efectiva para prevenir el VIH [10][11][12][13] . Sin embargo, los avances para implementar la PrEP en América Latina han sido limitados [14][15][16] . Las altas tasas de nuevos casos en la región y la necesidad urgente de medidas encaminadas a prevenir la transmisión del VIH, principalmente en los grupos más vulnerables 17 , hacen imperativa la implementación de PrEP con el fin de disminuir el impacto de esta pandemia, más aun teniendo en cuenta que se estima que hay 2,1 millones de personas que viven con VIH en América Latina, con 120.000 nuevas infecciones y 37.000 muertes relacionas con el SIDA 18 .…”

The path to equitable HIV prevention

“…In 2020, only 10% of PrEP users from 77 countries were in Latin America 12 , despite the stable number of new HIV infections among vulnerable populations in the region in the last 2 decades 6 . Although PrEP awareness and willingness to use in the region are high, its adoption as a public health policy has been very limited [12][13][14] .…”