Background: Growing evidence has shown feasibility for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention service integration in pharmacies, including HIV testing and screening for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Yet, further work is needed to determine whether pharmacies can effectively reach those at increased risk of HIV transmission.
Objective: We aimed to describe the HIV risk profiles and willingness to obtain HIV prevention services from a sample of pharmacy clients.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional pilot study aimed to develop a culturally appropriate pharmacy-based PrEP delivery model among Black men who have sex with men. Two pharmacies were recruited from low-income, underserved communities and participants were recruited within pharmacies for screener and social and behavioral surveys. Individuals were grouped by PrEP eligibility due to sexual risk, injection drug use risk, or both, and demographic and willingness measures were compared.
Results: Among 460 pharmacy clients, 81 (17.6%) would have been eligible for PrEP due to sex or injection drug use risk. Most were eligible due to sexual risk (58.0%), while a substantial proportion were eligible due to injection drug use (27.2%) or a combination of sexual and injection drug use risk behaviors (42.0%). Of these eligible, the median age was 31 years (interquartile range = 28.32) and most had ≥1 female (75.3%) or male (96.3%) partner in the past 6 months. There was high willingness to receive a free HIV test in a pharmacy (90.1%). Most were willing to screen for PrEP in a pharmacy (95.1%) despite these services not being available in the state where this study was performed. There were no differences in willingness to obtain pharmacy-based HIV prevention services across risk groups.
Conclusion: This study shows that pharmacies in disadvantaged areas can serve a key role in preventing and decreasing the transmission of HIV by reaching populations with high HIV burden and providing HIV prevention services.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2024.102239 | DOI Listing |
BMC Womens Health
January 2025
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Background: Cervical cancer is the most prevalent cancer in Mozambique, with endocervical adenocarcinoma accounting for approximately 5.5% of cases. Knowledge regarding the most prevalent HPV genotypes in endocervical adenocarcinoma is limited, within this setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Control Release
January 2025
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Magee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Electronic address:
User adherence contributes to the effectiveness of topical pre-exposure prophylactic products designed to protect against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Long-acting approaches that do not require daily or coitally-dependent use could potentially improve user adherence. This study aims to develop a long-acting vaginal film to deliver an integrase inhibitor, MK-2048, for prevention of HIV-1 infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Res Protoc
January 2025
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Background: Although existing disease preparedness and response frameworks provide guidance about strengthening emergency response capacity, little attention is paid to health service continuity during emergency responses. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, there were 11,325 reported deaths due to the Ebola virus and yet disruption in access to care caused more than 10,000 additional deaths due to measles, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Low- and middle-income countries account for the largest disease burden due to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria and yet previous responses to health emergencies showed that HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria service delivery can be significantly disrupted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Serious Games
January 2025
Department of Interactive Visualization and Virtual Reality, Faculty of Engineering, University of Talca, Talca, Chile.
Background: Serious games play a fundamental role in promoting safe sexual behaviors. This medium has great potential for promoting healthy behaviors that prevent potential risk factors, such as sexually transmitted infections, and promote adherence to sexual health treatments, such as antiretroviral therapy. The ubiquity of mobile devices enhances access to such tools, increasing the effectiveness of video games as agents of change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpidemiol Serv Saude
January 2025
Ministério da Saúde, Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde e Ambiente, Brasília, DF, Brasil.
Objectives: To analyze access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV in Brazil, comparing transgender and cisgender populations.
Methods: This was a descriptive study using data from the Medication Logistics Control System (Sistema de Controle Logístico de Medicamentos - SICLOM), related to the monitoring of PrEP between January 2018 and December 2023.
Results: During the period analyzed, 149,022 people initiated PrEP, of whom 139,423 (94%) were cisgender and 9,599 (6%) were transgender.
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!