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Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa

MSM in Ghana encounter challenges in accessing HIV services and may experience barriers to HIV self-testing due to multiple forms of stigma present in health care settings. We worked with community-based organization partners to implement three interventions that successfully engaged and retained MS...

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Autores principales: Abubakari, Gamji M'Rabiu, Turner, DeAnne, Ni, Zhao, Conserve, Donaldson F., Dada, Debbie, Otchere, Amma, Amanfoh, Yaw, Boakye, Francis, Torpey, Kwasi, Nelson, LaRon E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8226123/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34178919
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660256
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author Abubakari, Gamji M'Rabiu
Turner, DeAnne
Ni, Zhao
Conserve, Donaldson F.
Dada, Debbie
Otchere, Amma
Amanfoh, Yaw
Boakye, Francis
Torpey, Kwasi
Nelson, LaRon E.
author_facet Abubakari, Gamji M'Rabiu
Turner, DeAnne
Ni, Zhao
Conserve, Donaldson F.
Dada, Debbie
Otchere, Amma
Amanfoh, Yaw
Boakye, Francis
Torpey, Kwasi
Nelson, LaRon E.
author_sort Abubakari, Gamji M'Rabiu
collection PubMed
description MSM in Ghana encounter challenges in accessing HIV services and may experience barriers to HIV self-testing due to multiple forms of stigma present in health care settings. We worked with community-based organization partners to implement three interventions that successfully engaged and retained MSM which provides an opportunity for linkage to self-testing and medical care. These interventions were (1) Many Men Many Voices (3MV) a locally-led culturally grounded group-level HIV prevention program, (2) Auntie's Corner: a mobile-app based connecting MSM to health monitoring by a registered nurse and (3) HIV Education, Empathy, & Empowerment (HIVE3): a mobile-app based peer support intervention for MSM living with HIV. The 3MV intervention may be effective in improving HIV self-testing due to its effectiveness in engaging MSM, increasing HIV testing, and improving MSM understanding of the need for HIV testing. The utilization of apps like Auntie's Corner could positively impact HIV self-testing among MSM because it increases contact with nurses and reporting of symptoms. In HIVE3, participants expressed appreciation of the security and privacy that protects their identities as MSM and the peer mentors' abilities to make referrals to the nurses in Auntie's Corners. The confidentiality component has proven key among MSM and connecting MSM to self-testing through apps to report their process and receive care could increase utilization. Together, we show the efficacy of using the community-engaged process in reaching and engaging highly stigmatized populations like Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa, and its potential in increasing HIV self-testing and linkage to HIV care.
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spelling pubmed-82261232021-06-26 Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa Abubakari, Gamji M'Rabiu Turner, DeAnne Ni, Zhao Conserve, Donaldson F. Dada, Debbie Otchere, Amma Amanfoh, Yaw Boakye, Francis Torpey, Kwasi Nelson, LaRon E. Front Public Health Public Health MSM in Ghana encounter challenges in accessing HIV services and may experience barriers to HIV self-testing due to multiple forms of stigma present in health care settings. We worked with community-based organization partners to implement three interventions that successfully engaged and retained MSM which provides an opportunity for linkage to self-testing and medical care. These interventions were (1) Many Men Many Voices (3MV) a locally-led culturally grounded group-level HIV prevention program, (2) Auntie's Corner: a mobile-app based connecting MSM to health monitoring by a registered nurse and (3) HIV Education, Empathy, & Empowerment (HIVE3): a mobile-app based peer support intervention for MSM living with HIV. The 3MV intervention may be effective in improving HIV self-testing due to its effectiveness in engaging MSM, increasing HIV testing, and improving MSM understanding of the need for HIV testing. The utilization of apps like Auntie's Corner could positively impact HIV self-testing among MSM because it increases contact with nurses and reporting of symptoms. In HIVE3, participants expressed appreciation of the security and privacy that protects their identities as MSM and the peer mentors' abilities to make referrals to the nurses in Auntie's Corners. The confidentiality component has proven key among MSM and connecting MSM to self-testing through apps to report their process and receive care could increase utilization. Together, we show the efficacy of using the community-engaged process in reaching and engaging highly stigmatized populations like Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa, and its potential in increasing HIV self-testing and linkage to HIV care. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8226123/ /pubmed/34178919 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660256 Text en Copyright © 2021 Abubakari, Turner, Ni, Conserve, Dada, Otchere, Amanfoh, Boakye, Torpey and Nelson. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Abubakari, Gamji M'Rabiu
Turner, DeAnne
Ni, Zhao
Conserve, Donaldson F.
Dada, Debbie
Otchere, Amma
Amanfoh, Yaw
Boakye, Francis
Torpey, Kwasi
Nelson, LaRon E.
Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa
title Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa
title_full Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa
title_fullStr Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa
title_short Community-Based Interventions as Opportunities to Increase HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men – Lessons From Ghana, West Africa
title_sort community-based interventions as opportunities to increase hiv self-testing and linkage to care among men who have sex with men – lessons from ghana, west africa
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8226123/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34178919
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660256
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