Evaluation of the awareness, knowledge and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among the serodiscordant partners of HIV infected individuals on ART in an urban HIV clinic

The awareness, knowledge and acceptance of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among at risk group greatly depend on the collaborative efforts of CDC, health care workers and other government and non-governmental organizations. We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the knowledge of PrEP among...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Celestine Ishiekwene, Sherry Thomas-Powell, Monica Ghitan, Margaret Kuhn-Basti, Edward Chapnick, Yu Shia Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-01-01
Series:Cogent Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331205X.2018.1475124
Description
Summary:The awareness, knowledge and acceptance of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among at risk group greatly depend on the collaborative efforts of CDC, health care workers and other government and non-governmental organizations. We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the knowledge of PrEP among HIV patients and indirect assessment of the use of PrEP by their serodiscordant sexual partners. Two (4%) of the study participants whose partner(s) were at risk had discussed the use of PrEP with their partner(s) but none of their partners was on PrEP. The study revealed that awareness of PrEP may be slowly increasing but the uptake of PrEP is low. Awareness of PrEP does not translate to knowledge of PrEP. This is why there is need for health care professionals especially primary care physicians including HIV providers to incorporate PrEP counseling programs in the care of PLWHA and their families.
ISSN:2331-205X