The belief that one is not at high risk for HIV and concerns about adverse effects represent barriers to increasing PrEP uptake, according to results published in CMAJ Open. Oscar Javier Pico-Espinosa, MD, MSc, PhD-candidate, and colleagues aimed to understand barriers to PrEP use and explore strategies that could help increase its adoption. They conducted a survey among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. The analysis included 260 participants who met PrEP eligibility criteria and were not already using PrEP. The most common barriers to PrEP use were affordability (43%), concerns about adverse effects (42%), and the feeling that one was not at high enough risk for HIV to need PrEP (36%). Preferred strategies for increasing PrEP uptake included short waiting times, a written step-by-step guide, discussions with healthcare providers about how patients’ risk for HIV may be higher than they perceive, public advocacy about PrEP, and education on the adverse effects and efficacy of PrEP.
