HIV Self-Testing Programs to Men Who Have Sex With Men Delivered by Social Media Key Opinion Leaders and Community-Based Organizations are Both Effective and Complementary: A National Pragmatic Study in China

This study compared respondent characteristics, linkage to care, antiretroviral treatment, and cost of HIVST among men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited via SMKOLs and CBOs in China. Methods: Between January and December 2018, SMKOLs distributed HIVST advertisements to MSM through WeChat public platforms; simultaneously, CBOs distributed HIVST program messages to local MSM. All participants were required to pay a deposit to apply for the HIVST kit and had their deposit refunded after completing an online survey and uploading HIVST results. Trained staff provided HIV referral services by telephone and WeChat. Results: One thousand seven hundred forty-three [63.0% (1743/2766)] and 1023 [37.0% (1023/2766)] individuals met criteria via SMKOLs and CBOs, respectively. MSM reached by SMKOLs had a lower HIV seropositive rate [2.1% (33/1561) vs. 12.5% (100/803)] and higher proportion received antiretroviral treatment [94.4% (31/33) vs. 29.0% (29/100)] compared with CBO-recruited MSM (all P
Source: JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Epidemiology Source Type: research