Best practices of using online and geosocial network applications to provide HIV and sexual health information to young newcomer men who have sex with men
Abstract
- There is a high HIV incidence among young gay men and other men who have sex with men in countries such as China in recent years. Evidence shows that HIV testing rates among young men have sex with men are, in general, low in China, Vietnam, and India. Studies also show low HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness and low willingness to use PrEP among young men who have sex with men.
- Geosocial networking applications are being used by sexual minorities to find partners and these applications may enable both risk behaviour (e.g., having a higher incidence of HIV among app users than non-app users) and risk reduction (e.g., a large proportion of men who have sex with men using such applications to obtain information on HIV and sexually transmitted infections – STIs).
- A vast majority of HIV and sexual health interventions among young men who have sex with men originating from the top countries of citizenship among international students in Canada have been implemented and tested in mainland China. These include geosocial networking applications such as Blued, WeChat, Weibo, and QQ, and dating applications such as Grindr, Manhunt, and PlanetRomeo. Interventions have been implemented through these applications to display HIV prevention messaging, offer anonymous services, and provide location-based information such as nearby gay-friendly physicians and clinics.
- Other interventions explore different approaches such as crowdsourcing contests open to the public to create ads for HIV self-testing, gamification elements to motivate and engage users, as well as monetary incentives to encourage HIV/STI self-testing.
- Online-to-Offline models (O2O) describe ways to link online service utilization with subsequent offline clinical service uptake. A successful O2O model for HIV service delivery includes collaboration between teams responsible for the online intervention and those providing services offline to ensure timely linkages; social media promotions delivered via multiple platforms; real-time counseling and text/video support through instant messaging platforms; the ability for clients to make online appointments anonymously; and real-time tracking of client data.
Authors
Ontario HIV Treatment Network: Rapid Response Service
Year
2021
Topics
- Population(s)
- Men who have sex with men
- Ethnoracial communities
- Prevention, Engagement and Care Cascade
- Prevention
- Prevention
- Sexual risk behaviour
- Biomedical interventions
- Education/media campaigns
- Health Systems
- Delivery arrangements
