Collaborative PrEP Implementation Strategies for Latino Men Who have Sex with Men: A Health Center-Community...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• HIV Prevention
• Community-Engaged Research

Background:

• Community-based organizations (CBOs) offer culturally-responsive services, ideal for partnering with health centers to deliver HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
• Few established models exist for joint PrEP delivery between CBOs and health centers, particularly for Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM).

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify optimal, jointly implementable PrEP delivery strategies for health centers and CBOs serving LMSM.
• To develop a collaborative model for enhancing PrEP accessibility and uptake within the LMSM community.

Main Methods:

• A planning study involving three CBOs serving LMSM.
• Establishment of a Community Expert Panel (CEP) with CBO and health center staff.
• Utilized a modified Delphi method over six months, including brainstorming, rating strategies, and focus group data review.

Main Results:

• The CEP initially identified 25 strategies across communication, low-barrier options (telemedicine), and culturally-sensitive outreach.
• Client focus groups emphasized a need for flexible care options and trust in CBOs.
• A final package included a web-based referral tool, telemedicine, convenient lab collection, tailored media, and CBO coaching.

Conclusions:

• A community-engaged process successfully identified a package of PrEP delivery strategies for CBO-health center partnerships.
• These strategies have the potential to overcome existing barriers to PrEP for LMSM.
• The developed model offers a scalable approach to improve HIV prevention for this key population.