Wu, Dan; Zhou, Yi; Yang, Nancy; Huang, Shanzi; He, Xi; Tucker, Joseph; Li, Xiaofeng; Smith, Kumi M; Ritchwood, Tiarney; Jiang, Xiaohui; +9 more... Liu, Xuan; Wang, Yehua; Huang, Wenting; Ong, Jason; Fu, Hongyun; Bao, Huanyu; Pan, Stephen; Dai, Wencan; Tang, Weiming; (2020) Social media-based secondary distribution of HIV/syphilis self-testing among Chinese men who have sex with men. Clinical infectious diseases. ISSN 1058-4838 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa825
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Social media and secondary distribution (distributing self-testing kits by indexes through their networks) both show strong promise to improve HIV self-testing uptake. We assessed an implementation program in Zhuhai, China, which focused on the secondary distribution of HIV/syphilis self-test kits among men who have sex with men (MSM) via social media. METHODS: Men of age 16 or above, born biologically male, and ever had sex with another man were recruited as indexes. Banner ads on a social media platform invited the participants to apply for up to five self-test kits every three-months. Index men paid a deposit of 15 USD/kit refundable upon submitting a photograph of a completed test result via an online submission system. They were informed that they could distribute the kits to others (referred to as "alters"). RESULTS: A total of 371 unique index men applied for 1150 kits (mean age=28.7±6.9), of which 1141 test results were returned (99%). Among them, 1099 were valid test results, 810 (74%) were from 331 unique index men, and 289 tests (26%) were from 281 unique alters. Compared to index men, a higher proportion of alters were naïve HIV testers (40% VS. 21%, P<0.001). The total HIV self-test reactivity rate was 3%, with alters having a significantly higher rate than indexes(5% VS 2%, P=0.008). A total of 21 people (3%) had a reactive syphilis test result. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating social media with the secondary distribution of self-test kits may hold promise to increase HIV/syphilis testing coverage and case identification among MSM.
Item Type | Article |
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Faculty and Department | Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases > Dept of Clinical Research |
PubMed ID | 32588883 |
Elements ID | 148879 |