Awareness of, willingness to use, and experiences with Pre-exposure prophylaxis among youth in Nigeria

Department

Internal Medicine

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

BMC Health Services Research

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Youth (ages 14-24) in Nigeria have disproportionately high rates of new HIV infection. Pre-exposure prophylaxis could substantially reduce new infections among youth but has not been scaled up. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess Pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness, willingness to use, and prior use of Pre-exposure prophylaxis among youth in Nigeria.

METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from a quasi-experimental pilot study (clinical trial NCT04070287). The analysis focused on Pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness, willingness to use, and prior use among 324 youth recruited between September 2019 to March 2020. Descriptive statistics were calculated as frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and means and standard deviations for continuous variables.

RESULTS: Of the 324 participants, the mean age and standard deviation were 21.17 (± 2.20) years. The majority were 20-24 years old (75.9%) and male (57.7%). Only 30.7% used condoms consistently over three months. Regarding Pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness and willingness, 62.6% had never heard of Pre-exposure prophylaxis, and 158 (50.1%) reported willingness to use Pre-exposure prophylaxis. Only 10 (3.2%) reported having used Pre-exposure prophylaxis.

CONCLUSION: Nigerian youth have low awareness of and prior use of Pre-exposure prophylaxis. Given the gap between prior use and willingness to use Pre-exposure prophylaxis, our findings suggest missed opportunities to prevent new HIV infections among youth in Nigeria. Efforts to increase awareness and uptake of Pre-exposure prophylaxis among this population should consider youth-led Pre-exposure prophylaxis outreach efforts and effectively communicate the benefits of Pre-exposure prophylaxis to this population.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04070287, the Date of registration of the trial is 20-07-2019.

First Page

1128

DOI

10.1186/s12913-024-11459-1

Volume

24

Issue

1

Publication Date

9-27-2024

Publisher

BioMed Central

Medical Subject Headings

Humans; Male; Nigeria; Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis; HIV Infections; Female; Cross-Sectional Studies; Adolescent; Young Adult; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Pilot Projects; Anti-HIV Agents

PubMed ID

39334111

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