Abstract
Few studies have considered acceptability of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among transgender women in Southeast Asia. We assessed PrEP indications and readiness among a sample of HIV-uninfected transgender women in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Of 168 HIV-uninfected transgender women, 72.6 % met criteria for PrEP based on United States CDC guidelines. PrEP indication was inversely associated with PrEP interest (76.0 % interested among those for whom PrEP was indicated; 89.1 % among those for whom it was not; aOR 0.16, 95 % CI 0.04–0.67, P = 0.01). PrEP readiness, defined as having heard of, being interested in taking, and believing that PrEP is efficacious, was low (7.7 %). The results of this study indicate potential need for PrEP among transgender women in Ho Chi Minh City, but very low awareness of PrEP in the community. Future PrEP implementation programs should include counseling on HIV risk and eligibility for PrEP to ensure that PrEP is available to those who may benefit the most from it.
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Funding
This study was funded by amfAR, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32DA013911), and the National Institute of Mental Health (R25MH083620).
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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Oldenburg, C.E., Le, B., Toan, T. et al. HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Indication and Readiness Among HIV-Uninfected Transgender Women in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. AIDS Behav 20 (Suppl 3), 365–370 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1483-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1483-x