Interest in Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transfeminine Persons in HPTN 075, a Multi-center HIV Prevention Study in Sub-Saharan Africa (2015-2017).
Joseph O Orinda, Victor Mudhune, Valarie Opollo, Calvin Mbeda, Ravindre Panchia, Erica Hamilton, Sufia Dadabhai, Doerieyah Reynolds, Theodorus G M Sandfort, HPTN 075 study team
Author Information
Joseph O Orinda: HIV Research Division, Center for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya.
Victor Mudhune: HIV Research Division, Center for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya.
Valarie Opollo: HIV Research Division, Center for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya.
Calvin Mbeda: HIV Research Division, Center for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya.
Ravindre Panchia: Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Soweto, South Africa.
Erica Hamilton: Network and Collaborative Research Division, FHI 360, Durham, NC, USA.
Sufia Dadabhai: Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Research Project, Blantyre, Malawi.
Doerieyah Reynolds: Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa.
Theodorus G M Sandfort: Department of Psychiatry, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Dive, Unit 15, New York, NY, USA. tgs2001@cumc.columbia.edu. ORCID
Use of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (O-PrEP) for HIV prevention has not been fully utilized in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among key populations with high HIV incidence and prevalence, including men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW). We examined correlates of interest in O-PrEP among participants in the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) Study 075, a prospective cohort study, conducted between 2015 and 2017, across 4 sites in Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa. The study included persons assigned male sex at birth, between 18 and 44 years of age, who reported anal intercourse with a man in the past 3 months. Interest in O-PrEP and potential correlates were assessed among 297 participants who were HIV negative. 52% of the participants reported being aware of PrEP and 73% indicated interest in PrEP once informed about it. PrEP interest was not significantly associated with any of the surveyed demographic or psychosocial variables except study site. Our findings suggest a broad and general interest in O-PrEP among MSM and TGW in sub-Saharan Africa, despite relatively low awareness. While the situation around PrEP will have changed in the included countries, major questions about successful implementation still need to be addressed.
