HIV-Preventive Drug-PrEP’s Usage Barriers Among Young Men

Young men who have sex with other men have limited knowledge and awareness of the HIV prevention drug- PrEP and receiving a prescription for it is often stigmatized, reveals a study from a team of researchers at the University of Bath and published in the Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Barriers to PrEP Uptake in Young U.K. Men Who Have Sex With Men

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Evaluating Obstacles to Young Men's Access to HIV-Prevention Drugs

The study suggests that more needs to be done to break down barriers to access the potentially lifesaving medication. Pre-exposure prophylaxis ‘PrEP’ refers to a pill that prevents HIV contraction in HIV-negative individuals. PrEP can be taken daily or on-demand a day before and for two days after sex. When taken as prescribed it is 99% effective at preventing HIV transmission. Since March 2020, PrEP has also been available for free on the NHS for those at high risk of HIV.

The latest study was published during PrEP Awareness Week and on World AIDS Day (Friday 1 December). It comes at a time when concerns over access to the drug, as well as HIV treatment, have been in the news.

Results of a large-scale PrEP Impact Trial involving 24,000 PrEP users published in The Lancet (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and its implementation in the PrEP Impact Trial in England: a pragmatic health technology assessment

Go to source)suggested the drug was highly effective as a preventative treatment. Sir Elton John spoke in Parliament urging ministers to do more to hit the target of eliminating new HIV cases by 2030.

Despite higher risks of contracting HIV, uptake of PrEP among young men who have sex with other men is low in the UK. This latest study from researchers at Bath investigated why this was the case through in-depth interviews with a small sample of young men aged between 18 – 22.

Their study highlights barriers to uptake identified by those most at risk of contracting HIV and who could benefit from the treatment. These included a lack of a perceived necessity to take PrEP, a lack of general knowledge about the drug – what it is and how it works; as well as discomfort in getting hold of the drug.

Anonymous responses from participants highlighted specific challenges. For example, some men felt that taking PrEP was unnecessary. Others saw STI screening as a solution, without considering the possibility of contracting HIV in between testing.

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Participants often lacked a full picture of why and how they might use PrEP, and suggested finding it difficult to access detailed information. Regarding access to PrEP, participants also referred to awkward consultations with GPs or sexual health clinics where requesting PrEP had a perceived stigma attached.

The researchers’ analysis backs up a recent government review which suggests that a large proportion of young men who could be taking PrEP are not.

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Dr Richard Hamshaw from the University of Bath’s Department of Psychology supervised the research. He said: "Given the roll-out of PrEP, we were keen to gather views from one of the more at-risk groups (and most targeted group for PrEP uptake), young men who have sex with men.

"Carrying out in-depth interviews meant our participants could share their stories and experiences with us, and we were able to build a more detailed picture as to why some people might not use PrEP. We hope that our paper sheds further light on barriers to PrEP uptake, and hope to explore this further in future projects."

First author Loukas Haggipavlou added: “I started researching PrEP uptake after I noticed a worrying number of my LGBT+ friends were relatively unaware of the drug. Following this study, we propose enhancing such awareness by promoting stories from PrEP users about its consumption and benefits, coupled with integrating PrEP discussions into sex education in schools.

"To further increase uptake amongst young men who have sex with men, we also recommend the implementation of new online services for PrEP acquisition, to simplify the process, destigmatize and increase access."

Reference:

1. Barriers to PrEP Uptake in Young U.K. Men Who Have Sex With Men - (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/26320770231199419)
2. HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and its implementation in the PrEP Impact Trial in England: a pragmatic health technology assessment - (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(23)00256-4/fulltext)

Source-Eurekalert