HIV prevention interventions for men who have sex with men

Key take-home messages

• HIV prevention interventions for men who have sex with men can be classified into the following categories: individual, couple-based, or group behavioural interventions; and provider-based or structural-level interventions. Each of these categories includes a variety of interventions, and their effectiveness has been examined in numerous studies.

• Interventions that improve pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) initiation, adherence, persistence, or engagement can be the most effective for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men, as PrEP has been demonstrated to be a consistently effective strategy to reduce HIV incidence.

• Digital health interventions, such as those that utilize telehealth or mobile apps, may increase PrEP access and convenience. Studies examining mobile apps to improve PrEP adherence have shown mixed results.

• Digital interventions may also reduce sexual risk behaviours among men who have sex with men.There are few HIV prevention interventions developed for and tailored to racialized men who have sex with men. Furthermore, there is limited research on intervention strategies to increase access to HIV prevention interventions for Black men who have sex with men in the Canadian context.

• Interventions utilizing in-person peer support plus digital tools may encourage engagement in PrEP care among racialized men who have sex with men.

• Nurse-led PrEP appears to be an appropriate PrEP delivery strategy in studies conducted in Ottawa and Toronto.

• Some interventions have adapted the PrEP care cascade into a partial or fully remote model of care; while utility has been demonstrated in some studies, overall findings are mixed.

• Interventions need to ensure that the impact of systems of oppression and power in health care do not place marginalized communities at greater risk of negative health outcomes.

• Epidemiology and Determinants of Health
  • Determinants of Health
• Determinants of Health
  • Housing
  • Employment
  • Income
  • Education
  • Social support
  • Health services
  • Stigma/discrimination
• Population(s)
  • Men who have sex with men
  • General HIV- population
• Prevention, Engagement and Care Cascade
  • Engagement and Care Cascade
  • Prevention
• Engagement and Care Cascade
  • Linkage/engagement in care
  • Retention in care
  • Treatment
• Prevention
  • Sexual risk behaviour
  • Drug use behaviours/harm reduction
  • Biomedical interventions
  • Education/media campaigns
• Testing
  • Testing
• Health Systems
  • Governance arrangements
  • Financial arrangements
  • Delivery arrangements