Let Me Prep You to PREP Me: Amplifying the Voices of Black Women and Their Providers to Consider PrEP as an HIV Prevention Option.

Rasheeta Chandler,Dominique Guillaume,Natalie Hernandez,Jessica Wells

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031414

Abstract

Despite the high efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV acquisition, PrEP uptake among Black cisgender women remains low. Our qualitative study assessed Black cisgender women’s perspectives, attitudes, and acceptability towards PrEP, in addition to exploring PrEP-related attitudes, facilitators, and barriers to PrEP access among health care staff. This study was conducted to ascertain data to inform the development of our HIV prevention app—Savvy HER—which is being designed for Black cisgender women. Our findings indicated that Black women had low levels of PrEP acceptability and high levels of misconceptions, inaccurate knowledge, and stigma towards PrEP. Health care providers in our sample confirmed barriers of stigma, misconceptions, and knowledge among their patients coupled with difficulty accessing PrEP due to structural barriers. Our study indicated that there is a critical need to heighten Black cisgender women’s PrEP knowledge and HIV risk perception in order to increase PrEP acceptability and uptake.

Highlights

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention has been integral for meeting established targets for ending the HIV epidemic [1]
This is highly concerning given that Black cisgender women are disproportionately affected by HIV compared to their non-Black female counterparts [1,10], with epidemiologic data indicating that Black women have a 14.6-fold higher risk of acquiring HIV compared to White women [11]
Our study indicated that there is a critical need to heighten Black cisgender women’s PrEP

Summary

Introduction

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention has been integral for meeting established targets for ending the HIV epidemic [1]. Black cisgender women in Atlanta shoulder the disproportionate burden of HIV compared to their non-Black female counterparts [6]. Despite the efficacy of PrEP in reducing the risk of HIV acquisition, this HIV prevention method has not adequately been extended to Black cisgender women [1,7–9]. Substantial progress has been made in reducing HIV incidence among women over the last decade, Black cisgender women are severely underrepresented among PrEP users [9]. This is highly concerning given that Black cisgender women are disproportionately affected by HIV compared to their non-Black female counterparts [1,10], with epidemiologic data indicating that Black women have a 14.6-fold higher risk of acquiring HIV compared to White women [11].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion