The Impact of a Social Marketing Campaign on HIV and Sexually Transmissible Infection Testing among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Australia
BACKGROUND:
In
response to increasing HIV and other sexually transmissible infection (HIV/STI)
notifications in Australia, a social marketing campaign Drama Downunder (DDU)
was launched in 2008 to promote HIV/STI testing among men who have sex with men
(MSM). We analyzed prospective data from (1) an online cohort of MSM and (2)
clinic-level HIV/STI testing to evaluate the impact of DDU on HIV, syphilis,
gonorrhea, and chlamydia testing.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
(1)
Cohort participants who completed 3 surveys (2010-2014) contributed to a
Poisson regression model examining predictors of recent HIV testing.(2) HIV,
syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia tests among MSM attending high caseload
primary care clinics (2007-2013) were included in an interrupted time series
analysis.
RESULTS:
(1)
Although campaign awareness was high among 242 MSM completing 726 prospective
surveys, campaign recall was not associated with self-reported HIV testing.
Reporting previous regular HIV testing (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 2.4; 95%
confidence interval, 1.3-4.4) and more than 10 partners in the previous 6
months (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 1.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.4)
was associated with recent HIV testing. (2) Analysis of 257,023 tests showed
increasing monthly HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia tests pre-DDU.
Post-DDU, gonorrhea test rates increased significantly among HIV-negative MSM,
with modest and nonsignificant increasing rates of HIV, syphilis, and chlamydia
testing. Among HIV-positive MSM, no change in gonorrhea or chlamydia testing
occurred and syphilis testing declined significantly.
CONCLUSIONS:
Increasing
HIV/STI testing trends among MSM occurred pre- and post-DDU, coinciding with
other plausible drivers of testing. Modest changes in HIV testing post-DDU
suggest that structural changes to improve testing access may need to occur
alongside health promotion to increase testing frequency.
- 1From the *Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia; †School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; ‡Department Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA; §Victorian AIDS Council/Gay Men's Health Service, South Yarra, Australia; ¶Alfred Health, Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Melbourne, Australia; ∥Central Clinical School Monash University, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; and **Alfred Health, Infectious Disease Department, Alfred Hospital, Australia.
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