TY - JOUR
T1 - A review of pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence among female sex workers
AU - Ghayda, Ramy Abou
AU - Hong, Sung Hwi
AU - Yang, Jae Won
AU - Jeong, Gwang Hun
AU - Lee, Keum Hwa
AU - Kronbichler, Andreas
AU - Solmi, Marco
AU - Stubbs, Brendon
AU - Koyanagi, Ai
AU - Jacob, Louis
AU - Oh, Hans
AU - Kim, Jong Yeob
AU - Shin, Jae Il
AU - Smith, Lee
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Yonsei University College of Medicine 2020.
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - Globally and in Africa specifically, female sex workers (FSWs) are at an extraordinarily high risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has emerged as an effective and ethical method with which to prevent HIV infection among FSWs. PrEP efficacy is, however, closely linked to adherence, and adherence to PrEP among FSWs is a complex and interrelated process that has been shown to be of importance to public health policies and HIV control and intervention programs. This comprehensive review categorizes barriers to and facilitators of adherence to HIV PrEP for FSWs, and describes five strategies for promoting PrEP adherence among FSWs. These strategies encompass 1) a long-term educational effort to decrease the stigma associated with sex work and PrEP use, 2) education on how PrEP works, 3) lifestyle modification, 4) research on next-generation PrEP products to address the inconvenience of taking daily pills, and 5) integration of PrEP into existing services, such as social services and routine primary care visits, to reduce the economic burden of seeking the medication. Our review is expected to be useful for the design of future PrEP intervention programs. Multidisciplinary intervention should be considered to promote PrEP adherence among FSWs in order to help control the HIV epidemic.
AB - Globally and in Africa specifically, female sex workers (FSWs) are at an extraordinarily high risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has emerged as an effective and ethical method with which to prevent HIV infection among FSWs. PrEP efficacy is, however, closely linked to adherence, and adherence to PrEP among FSWs is a complex and interrelated process that has been shown to be of importance to public health policies and HIV control and intervention programs. This comprehensive review categorizes barriers to and facilitators of adherence to HIV PrEP for FSWs, and describes five strategies for promoting PrEP adherence among FSWs. These strategies encompass 1) a long-term educational effort to decrease the stigma associated with sex work and PrEP use, 2) education on how PrEP works, 3) lifestyle modification, 4) research on next-generation PrEP products to address the inconvenience of taking daily pills, and 5) integration of PrEP into existing services, such as social services and routine primary care visits, to reduce the economic burden of seeking the medication. Our review is expected to be useful for the design of future PrEP intervention programs. Multidisciplinary intervention should be considered to promote PrEP adherence among FSWs in order to help control the HIV epidemic.
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U2 - 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.5.349
DO - 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.5.349
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32390358
AN - SCOPUS:85084404063
VL - 61
SP - 349
EP - 358
JO - Yonsei Medical Journal
JF - Yonsei Medical Journal
SN - 0513-5796
IS - 5
ER -