Effectiveness and impact of using the internet for prevention of HIV/AIDS

Key take-home messages

• The Internet is a feasible channel to deliver HIV prevention and intervention. With the internet increasingly used not only for meeting sex partners but also for finding health information it can be used to develop interventions to proactively reach out to high-risk populations.
• Benefits of internet HIV prevention interventions include low cost to deliver, ability to customize intervention content, flexible information dissemination channels, ability to reach hidden populations, the potential to erase geographic and social barriers caused by stigmatization and marginalization, and the relative anonymity it provides in seeking information and support online.
• There are both opportunities (e.g., reaching high-risk populations, absence of facilitator issues and individual obstacles) and challenges (e.g., keeping people engaged in multiple sessions online, recruiting and retaining more high-risk individuals for technology-based research) with online interventions when compared to offline prevention interventions.
• Internet-based interventions should be seen as an adjunct to rather than as a replacement of traditional programs.

• Population(s)
  • General HIV- population
• Prevention
  • Education/media campaigns
• Health Systems
  • Delivery arrangements