HIV Testing, MSM Clinical Trial
Official title:
Behavioral and Biomedical HIV Prevention Interventions for Thai Men Who Have Sex With Men.
Objectives
1. To evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of "standard HIV prevention package"
among Thai men who have sex with men (MSM)
2. To conduct a pilot study to demonstrate the acceptability and feasibility of
internet-based social networking, asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection diagnosis
and treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis strategies as "potential HIV prevention
methods" among Thai MSM
3. To use mathematical modeling to identify the most effective HIV prevention package
optimized for Thai MSM
Subject population: HIV-negative MSM clients of the Thai Red Cross Anonymous Clinic
(TRC-AC), age ≥18 years old,Each participant will have a 12-month follow-up duration in the
study.
Study design and methodology:
We will conduct a pilot study among 100 MSM participants who will be enrolled from the
TRC-AC and will be followed up for 12 months. Participants will be followed at baseline,
months 1 and 3, and then every 3 months. Interventions in the "standard HIV prevention
package" to be provided at every clinic visit include anti-HIV testing, risk reduction
counseling, provisions of free condoms and lubricants and diagnosis and treatment of
symptomatic sexually transmitted infections (STI). All participants will also have access to
non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) without charge as part of the standard HIV
prevention package. In addition, we will test for acceptability and feasibility of the
"potential HIV prevention methods" which include:
1) Internet-based social networking to distribute and stimulate discussion of HIV prevention
information (2) Asymptomatic STI diagnosis and treatment for every participant at baseline
visit and every 6 months (3) Oral and topical pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) strategies
using placebo tablet and gel.
The meta-analysis of various behavioral and biomedical HIV prevention studies among MSM will
be done in parallel with the pilot study in order to gather information for mathematical
modeling and finally to inform the design of a larger study. Data acquired from the pilot
study will be used for mathematical modeling of HIV transmission among MSM. The output from
the modeling will directly inform HIV preventative interventions to be evaluated empirically
among MSM in Thailand.
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