Hispanic women are less more likely to receive PrEP treatment – ​​latest intervention could change that

In the USA Hispanic women are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic lately. Yet they’ve been less more likely to reap the benefits of PrEP, a drug that significantly reduces the danger of HIV infection.

So We have developed a pilot intervention to tell more people concerning the drug by incorporating it into an existing and proven HIV prevention program for heterosexual Hispanic women. All participants within the pilot project – none of whom knew about PrEP before – reported being satisfied with the intervention, and the overwhelming majority learned lots. These results lead us to consider that this may very well be a very good solution to reduce HIV rates within the Hispanic community.

We are Scientists Nurses WHO Research into HIV prevention amongst black and Hispanic women in South Florida.

Together with our team We founded SEPA+PrEPIt is an intervention that uses community engagement and is culturally tailored to Hispanic women to advertise HIV prevention.

The program builds on the present The SEPA intervention developed in 1999SEPA, which stands for Health, Education, Prevention and Self-Care in Spanish, was created for Hispanic women between the ages of 18 and 49. It has been shown that Increase condom use and reduce domestic violence and drug abuse.

To develop SEPA+PrEP, we adapted and updated the unique SEPA intervention and added content related to PrEP. We piloted this system with 44 Hispanic women in Miami-Dade County. The women attended three weekly sessions, each lasting two hours. Participants engaged in discussions and role-playing while practicing communication skills and interacting with peers.

None of the participants knew about PrEP before the study, and 70% had not used a condom for vaginal sex prior to now three months. More than half said that they had no fear of HIV infection before participating in this system.

After the intervention, we used questionnaires and focus groups to measure the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. All participants reported being satisfied with the intervention and 89% indicated that they understood the knowledge provided.

Overall, SEPA+PrEP was found to be a suitable and feasible method for educating Hispanic women about PrEP and other types of HIV prevention, comparable to condom use and HIV testing.

Why it is vital

Although HIV infections within the United States decreased by 12% since 2018Rates amongst Hispanic women have remained stable.

Hispanics make 17% of US women but based on the Pew Research Center, 21% of those infected with HIV are.

In 2022, Hispanic women were almost thrice more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than non-Hispanic white women.

Despite the high HIV transmission rates amongst Hispanics, data show that only 17% of PrEP users within the US discover as HispanicThis percentage is significantly lower than the proportion of Hispanics who are literally in danger for HIV.

Researchers have found two primary reasons for this disparity in PrEP use. First, social service providers working with these communities don’t seem to acknowledge that PrEP is quickly available and effective, in order that they rarely offer the drug to Hispanic women as an option for HIV prevention. Second, Hispanic women – especially immigrants – have limited access to health care because of financial barriers and lack of medical insurance.

What happens next?

Now that we all know that SEPA+PrEP is effective at teaching women learn how to use PrEP, the subsequent step is to find out whether this system actually compels women to begin taking the drug.

In addition, we wish to research whether SEPA+PrEP can address other issues related to HIV risk, comparable to Violence in relationshipsOur team can be working on adapting SEPA+PrEP for black women who also disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic.