Piloting a Social Networks Strategy to Increase HIV Testing and Counseling Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Greater Accra and Ashanti Region, Ghana.
AIDS Behav
; 19(11): 1990-2000, 2015 Nov.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25903507
ABSTRACT
The 2011 Ghana Men's Study identified a high prevalence of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Accra/Tema (34.4 %) and in Kumasi (13.6 %), whereas the HIV rate among MSM referred through peer educators (PEs) to HIV testing and counseling (HTC) services in these two sites was substantially lower (8.4 %). These findings raised questions about possible limitations of the peer-education strategy to reach high-risk MSM. Therefore, a pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using a social network strategy (SNS) to identify and refer MSM to HTC services. Within 3 months, 166 MSM were reached and referred to HTC services 62.7 % reported no recent exposure to PEs; 61.5 % were unaware of their recent HIV serostatus; and 32.9 % were newly diagnosed HIV positive. This pilot study suggests that an SNS could be an important strategy to reach MSM and to increase the uptake of HTC.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Programas de Rastreamento
/
Soropositividade para HIV
/
Homossexualidade Masculina
/
Aconselhamento
/
Rede Social
/
Promoção da Saúde
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
País como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article