Cargando…

Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

As far as HIV self-testing (HIVST) is concerned, proving the link to HIV care for users with a positive result contributes to understanding the implementation of HIVST. We sought to examine whether there were differences by sex in the uptake of HIV services following a positive self-test in the Demo...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tonen-Wolyec, Serge, Kayembe Tshilumba, Charles, Batina-Agasa, Salomon, Tagoto Tepungipame, Alliance, Bélec, Laurent
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8360881/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34395469
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.667732
_version_ 1783737837493944320
author Tonen-Wolyec, Serge
Kayembe Tshilumba, Charles
Batina-Agasa, Salomon
Tagoto Tepungipame, Alliance
Bélec, Laurent
author_facet Tonen-Wolyec, Serge
Kayembe Tshilumba, Charles
Batina-Agasa, Salomon
Tagoto Tepungipame, Alliance
Bélec, Laurent
author_sort Tonen-Wolyec, Serge
collection PubMed
description As far as HIV self-testing (HIVST) is concerned, proving the link to HIV care for users with a positive result contributes to understanding the implementation of HIVST. We sought to examine whether there were differences by sex in the uptake of HIV services following a positive self-test in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This was a mixed-methods study exploring linkage to care for HIVST through a secondary analysis of collected data from three pilot surveys recently conducted in three cities (Kinshasa, Kisangani, and Kindu) during 2018 and 2020 in the DRC. Linkage to HIV care was defined as delayed when observed beyond 1 week. A total of 1,652 individuals were self-tested for HIV. Overall, the proportion of linkage to HIV care was high (n = 258; 82.2%) among individuals having a positive result with HIV self-test (n = 314), but it was significantly lower in men (65.2%) than women (89.2%). Furthermore, linkage to HIV care of men was significantly delayed as compared with that of women (40.0 vs. 20.7%). These findings show a lower uptake of care following a positive self-test in men than women. This trend already previously observed in sub-Saharan Africa shed light on the need to increase linkages to care among men newly diagnosed through HIV self-testing.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8360881
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83608812021-08-14 Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tonen-Wolyec, Serge Kayembe Tshilumba, Charles Batina-Agasa, Salomon Tagoto Tepungipame, Alliance Bélec, Laurent Front Med (Lausanne) Medicine As far as HIV self-testing (HIVST) is concerned, proving the link to HIV care for users with a positive result contributes to understanding the implementation of HIVST. We sought to examine whether there were differences by sex in the uptake of HIV services following a positive self-test in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This was a mixed-methods study exploring linkage to care for HIVST through a secondary analysis of collected data from three pilot surveys recently conducted in three cities (Kinshasa, Kisangani, and Kindu) during 2018 and 2020 in the DRC. Linkage to HIV care was defined as delayed when observed beyond 1 week. A total of 1,652 individuals were self-tested for HIV. Overall, the proportion of linkage to HIV care was high (n = 258; 82.2%) among individuals having a positive result with HIV self-test (n = 314), but it was significantly lower in men (65.2%) than women (89.2%). Furthermore, linkage to HIV care of men was significantly delayed as compared with that of women (40.0 vs. 20.7%). These findings show a lower uptake of care following a positive self-test in men than women. This trend already previously observed in sub-Saharan Africa shed light on the need to increase linkages to care among men newly diagnosed through HIV self-testing. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8360881/ /pubmed/34395469 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.667732 Text en Copyright © 2021 Tonen-Wolyec, Kayembe Tshilumba, Batina-Agasa, Tagoto Tepungipame and Bélec. 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 Medicine
Tonen-Wolyec, Serge
Kayembe Tshilumba, Charles
Batina-Agasa, Salomon
Tagoto Tepungipame, Alliance
Bélec, Laurent
Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
title Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
title_full Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
title_fullStr Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
title_full_unstemmed Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
title_short Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
title_sort uptake of hiv/aids services following a positive self-test is lower in men than women in the democratic republic of the congo
topic Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8360881/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34395469
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.667732
work_keys_str_mv AT tonenwolyecserge uptakeofhivaidsservicesfollowingapositiveselftestislowerinmenthanwomeninthedemocraticrepublicofthecongo
AT kayembetshilumbacharles uptakeofhivaidsservicesfollowingapositiveselftestislowerinmenthanwomeninthedemocraticrepublicofthecongo
AT batinaagasasalomon uptakeofhivaidsservicesfollowingapositiveselftestislowerinmenthanwomeninthedemocraticrepublicofthecongo
AT tagototepungipamealliance uptakeofhivaidsservicesfollowingapositiveselftestislowerinmenthanwomeninthedemocraticrepublicofthecongo
AT beleclaurent uptakeofhivaidsservicesfollowingapositiveselftestislowerinmenthanwomeninthedemocraticrepublicofthecongo