Spatial Access and Willingness to Use Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Black/African American Individuals in the United States: Cross-Sectional Survey

BACKGROUND: Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among black individuals in the United States is low and may be associated with the limited availability of clinics where PrEP is prescribed. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the association between spatial access to clinics where PrEP is prescribed and willingness to use PrEP. METHODS: We identified locations of clinics where PrEP is prescribed from AIDSVu.org and calculated the density of PrEP clinics per 10,000 residents according to the ZIP code. Individual-level data were obtained from the 2016 National Survey on HIV in the Black Community. We used multilevel modelling to estimate the association between willingness to use PrEP and clinic density among participants with individual-level (HIV risk, age, gender, education, income, insurance, doctor visit, census region, urban/rural residence) and ZIP code–level (%poverty, %unemployed, %uninsured, %black population, and density of health care facilities) variables. RESULTS: All participants identified as black/African American. Of the 787 participants, 45% were men and 23% were found to be at high risk based on the self-reported behavioral characteristics. The mean age of the participants was 34 years (SD 9), 54% of participants resided in the South, and 26% were willing to use PrEP. More than one-third (38%) of the sample had to drive more than 1 hour to access a PrEP provider. Participants living in areas with higher PrEP clinic density were significantly more willing to use PrEP (one SD higher density of PrEP clinics per 10,000 population was associated with 16% higher willingness [adjusted prevalence ratio=1.16, 95% CI: 1.03-1.31]). CONCLUSIONS: Willingness to use PrEP was associated with spatial availability of clinics where providers prescribe PrEP in this nationally representative sample of black African Americans.