Engagement in the HIV Care Continuum among Key Populations in Tijuana, Mexico

In Tijuana, Mexico, HIV is concentrated in sub-epidemics of key populations: persons who inject drugs (PWID), sex workers (SW), and men who have sex with men (MSM). To date, data on engagement in the HIV care continuum among these key populations, particularly in resource-constrained settings, are sparse. We pooled available epidemiological data from six studies (N = 3368) to examine HIV testing and treatment uptake in these key populations; finding an overall HIV prevalence of 5.7%. Of the 191 identified HIV-positive persons, only 11.5% knew their HIV-positive status and 3.7% were on ART. 

Observed differences between these HIV-positive key populations suggest 

• PWID (vs. non-PWID) were least likely to have previously tested or initiate HIV care. 
• MSM (vs. non-MSM) were more likely to have previously tested but not more likely to know their HIV-positive status. 

Of persons aware of their HIV-positive status, SW (vs. non-SW) were more likely to initiate HIV care. 

Findings suggest engagement of key populations in HIV treatment is far below estimates observed for similarly resource-constrained generalized epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. These data provide one of the first empirical-snapshots highlighting the extent of HIV treatment disparities in key populations.

Via: http://ht.ly/Skhm2 

By: Smith LR1, Patterson TL2, Magis-Rodriguez C3, Ojeda VD4, Burgos JL4, Rojas SA5, Zúñiga ML6, Strathdee SA4.

• 1Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive #0507, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0507, USA
• 2Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA.
• 3Centro Nacional para la Prevención y el Control del VIH y SIDA (CENSIDA), Mexico City, Mexico.
• 4Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive #0507, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0507, USA.
• 5Family Health Centers of San Diego, San Diego, USA.
• 6School of Social Work, San Diego State University, San Diego, USA.
• 
  
  
• More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight