Uptake of HIV/AIDS Services Following a Positive Self-Test Is Lower in Men Than Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Serge Tonen-Wolyec¹  Charles Kayembe Tshilumba³  Salomon Batina-Agasa³  Alliance Tagoto Tepungipame³  Laurent Bélec⁴ 

[1] Ecole Doctorale Régionale d'Afrique Centrale en Infectiologie Tropicale;Faculty de Medicine, University de Bunia;Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Kisangani;Laboratory of Virology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, University de Paris

关键词: HIV;    self-testing;    linkage to care;    men;    Democratic Republic of the Congo;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2021.667732

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

As far as HIV self-testing (HIVST) is concerned, proving the link to HIV care for users with a positive result contributes to understanding the implementation of HIVST. We sought to examine whether there were differences by sex in the uptake of HIV services following a positive self-test in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This was a mixed-methods study exploring linkage to care for HIVST through a secondary analysis of collected data from three pilot surveys recently conducted in three cities (Kinshasa, Kisangani, and Kindu) during 2018 and 2020 in the DRC. Linkage to HIV care was defined as delayed when observed beyond 1 week. A total of 1,652 individuals were self-tested for HIV. Overall, the proportion of linkage to HIV care was high ( n = 258; 82.2%) among individuals having a positive result with HIV self-test ( n = 314), but it was significantly lower in men (65.2%) than women (89.2%). Furthermore, linkage to HIV care of men was significantly delayed as compared with that of women (40.0 vs. 20.7%). These findings show a lower uptake of care following a positive self-test in men than women. This trend already previously observed in sub-Saharan Africa shed light on the need to increase linkages to care among men newly diagnosed through HIV self-testing.

【 授权许可】

CC BY