Men's Willingness to Receive Text Messages and Talk with an HIV counselor from the National HIV Hotline in Tanzania for Support with Linkage to Care Following HIV self-testing.

Background: Tanzania faces a significant burden of HIV, with particular challenges in reaching men and ensuring timely linkage to care. To address these issues, HIV self-testing (HIVST) has been implemented to increase HIV testing and the National HIV Hotlines are being considered as a strategy to facilitate linkage to care. This study aimed to assess the willingness of Tanzanian men to receive support from use the National HIV Hotline via mobile phones for HIVST and linkage to care. Methods: Data from 505 men from the baseline survey of a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in June 2019 with 18 social networks or "camps" in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Participants were 18-year-old or older male camp members who were HIV-negative at the time of enrolment. Logistic regression models were used to assess factors associated with men's comfort with talking with an HIV counselor over the phone. Results: There were 505 heterosexual male participants enrolled in the study with an average age of 29 years. Logistic regression demonstrated that comfortability texting a friend about HIV self-testing (OR =3.37, 95% CI [1.97 - 5.76], being comfortable texting a friend about HIV (OR = 3.84, 95% CI [2.20 - 6.72], previous history of receiving HIV related text messages (aOR = 0.55, 95% CI [0.31 - 0.99] were significantly associated with men's s comfortability talking to a HIV counselor on the National HIV Hotline following HIVST. The factors such as participants' comfortability texting friend about HIVST (OR = 2.52, 95% CI [1.49 - 4.25]) and comfortability texting friend about HIV (OR = 2.96, 95% CI [1.83 - 4.80] were significantly associated with the probability of participant's comfortability receiving text message from HIV counselor following HIVST. Conclusion: These findings suggest an effort to develop and implement a user-friendly digital health intervention that promote comfortability, address private concerns, and deliver tailored support and information to individuals following HIV self-testing.

Corrigendum: Digital Intervention Services to Promote HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Services: A Bibliometric and Content Analysis-Global Trends and Future Directions.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/phrs.2024.1606354.].

Willingness to Receive HIV Self-Testing Kits from Recent Sexual Partners Among Men in Dar Es Salam, Tanzania: Findings from the STEP Project Baseline Survey.

Globally, men are less likely to access HIV services, and addressing HIV service challenges among men is crucial to the global HIV/AIDS response. HIV self-testing (HIVST) has been shown to be a potentially effective strategy in improving HIV testing coverage among men. This study assessed and identified factors influencing willingness to receive HIVST kits from sexual partners among men in Tanzania. Data are from the baseline survey of the Self-Testing Education and Promotion (STEP) project, a five-year study comprising male participants aged 18 or older who self-reported as HIV-negative. Logistic regression models were used to assess factors associated with men's willingness to receive HIVST kits from their sexual partners. There were 505 heterosexual male participants enrolled in the study with an average age of 29 years, of whom 69% reported being willing to receive HIVST kits from their sexual partner. Logistic regression models demonstrated that willingness to receive HIVST kits from sexual partners was significantly associated with number of sexual partners within 12 months (aOR = 1.2, 95% CI [1.1-1.3]), awareness of HIVST (aOR = 5.6, 95% CI [3.2-9.5]), previous discussion of HIVST with sexual partners aOR = 14.0, 95% CI [8.0-24.6]), and previous testing for HIV with sexual partners not (aOR = 2.5, 95% CI [1.3-4.7]). These findings suggest additional promotional strategies to improve men's awareness of HIVST and support open conversations about HIVST and HIV testing with sexual partners could improve men's willingness to receive HIVST kits when distributed through their sexual partners.

Digital Intervention Services to Promote HIV Self-Testing and Linkage to Care Services: A Bibliometric and Content Analysis-Global Trends and Future Directions.

Objective: The global burden of HIV remains a critical public health challenge, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, home to over two-thirds of individuals living with HIV. HIV self-testing (HIVST) has emerged as a promising strategy endorsed by the World Health Organization to achieve UNAIDS targets. Despite its potential, challenges persist in linking self-testers to care post a positive result. Digital health interventions, including chatbots and mobile applications, offer innovative solutions to address this gap. However, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the collaboration and growth in the literature at the intersection of HIVST and digital interventions is lacking. Methods: The study employs a bibliometric approach, leveraging data from the Web of Science, to analyze the characteristics, citation pattern and content of 289 articles spanning 1992-2023. The analysis involves performance assessment, scientific collaboration analysis, science mapping, and content analysis. Key bibliometric indicators, such as annual growth rate, citation impact, and authorship patterns, are explored. Collaboration patterns among countries, institutions, and authors are elucidated, and thematic mapping provides insight into the key research themes. Results: The analysis reveals a dynamic and expanding field, with an annual scientific growth rate of 12.25%. Notable contributions come from diverse sources, including North America, Europe, and Africa. High-impact journals such as JMIR mHealth and uHealth play a crucial role in disseminating research findings. African authors, including Lebelonyane R, Ford N, and Lockman S, feature prominently, reflecting a positive trend in diverse authorship. Co-citation analysis highlights influential manuscripts, with systematic reviews dominating the top-cited articles. Collaboration analysis underscores strategic partnerships globally, particularly involving the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Conclusion: This bibliometrics analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the digital health landscape in HIVST and linkage to care. It identifies key contributors, high-impact journals, and collaborative networks. The thematic map reveals nuanced research domains, including alcohol dependence, men's health, outcomes, and user acceptance. The findings offer insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, guiding future directions in the evolving intersection of HIVST and digital health interventions.

Adapting a community-based intervention to address social determinants of health influencing pre-exposure prophylaxis services for Black adults in Washington, District of Columbia: A study protocol.

Community-based HIV treatment initiation and continuation helps to address social determinants of health (SDOH) barriers to care and increase antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake and adherence. Similarly, community-based pre-exposure prophylaxis (cbPrEP) services can help address SDOH barriers such as transportation costs and stigma. However, few studies have examined cbPrEP programming in the Washington, District of Columbia (DC) area where more Blacks are disproportionately affected by HIV and have low PrEP uptake. This study aims to adapt and pilot a community-based ART intervention (cbART) intervention for cbPrEP service delivery for Black adults in the Washington, DC area. The adaptation of the cbART intervention will be informed by the ADAPT-ITT framework and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. For Aim 1, in-depth and key informant interviews will be conducted with PrEP program managers at community-based organizations (N = 10), DC health department representatives (N = 8), PrEP providers (N = 10) and current and potential Black PrEP users (n = 24). The interviews will provide an initial assessment of barriers and facilitators to PrEP services and inform the decisions on how to adapt the cbART intervention for cbPrEP services. In Aim 2, we will train and pilot test the cbPrEP intervention for acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness with Black adults (n = 60). Enrolled participants will complete a survey at baseline and at 45 days post-enrollment. In-depth interviews will be conducted with a subset (N = 16) of participants, those who did not enroll (N = 10) and providers implementing the cbPrEP intervention (N = 8). Alternative strategies to PrEP service delivery are needed to increase PrEP uptake among those most in need in the DC area. If cbPrEP delivery is found to be acceptable, feasible, and appropriate, it could have a significant impact on DC's Ending the HIV Epidemic efforts and will inform future efforts to investigate the intervention's efficacy on PrEP uptake and continuation among Black adults in DC.