Awareness and Acceptance of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis among Medical Personnel and Men Who Have Sex with Men in Korea
Journal of Korean Medical Science
; : e91-2018.
Article
in English
| WPRIM (Western Pacific)
| ID: wpr-713715
Responsible library:
WPRO
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
We aimed to investigate the awareness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among high-risk individuals, including men who have sex with men (MSM) and medical personnel (MP) in Korea through a cross-sectional survey, identify possible obstacles hindering their access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).METHODS:
In 2016, the first questionnaire survey was sent to randomly selected MSM and MP. To compare the changes in attitudes and knowledge of MSM, a second questionnaire survey was conducted in August 2017.RESULTS:
More than half of MSM (61.3% in 2016, 88.6% in 2017) were aware of PrEP. However, MP who offered PrEP had less knowledge regarding PrEP (23.4%). The background knowledge and experience with PrEP among MSM and MP in this survey was low (3.4% in 2016 and 5.7% in 2017, 1.9% in MP). The major obstacles that MSM reported were lack of insurance coverage (29% in 2016 and 32% in 2017), concern regarding adverse effects of PrEP (19% and 21%), and risk of exposing HIV-positive status to other people (15% and 18%). Among MP, lack of knowledge regarding the efficacy of PrEP was the most common obstacle (30%), followed by lack of insurance coverage (22%), and concern regarding adverse effects (20%).CONCLUSION:
Our study showed that PrEP is required among MSM in Korea; however, most MP were not aware of PrEP. Lack of insurance coverage and knowledge regarding PrEP were major hindrances in the access to PrEP; therefore, further studies on how to make PrEP information more accessible are needed to help prevent HIV infection.
Full text:
Available
Health context:
SDG3 - Health and Well-Being
Health problem:
Target 3.3: End transmission of communicable diseases
Database:
WPRIM (Western Pacific)
Main subject:
HIV Infections
/
Cross-Sectional Studies
/
HIV
/
Insurance Coverage
/
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
/
Korea
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prevalence study
/
Risk factors
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Journal of Korean Medical Science
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article