In Atlanta, 79% of men with AIDS are African-American (AA), nearly twice the prevalence of the US as a whole. Because AA men who have sex with men (MSM) are a stigmatized and """"""""hidden"""""""" population, creative approaches are needed to increase knowledge of HIV status in this population in order to avoid increased risk of HIV transmission and high risk for advance immune suppression prior to diagnosis. The objective of this proposal is to evaluate four different strategies for increasing HIV serostatus awareness among AA MSM. We will do this through a unique collaboration including the two largest health departments in Atlanta, and several influential community social and advocacy organizations who have access to, and the trust of, many thousands of AA MSM in Atlanta.
The specific aims of this proposal are: 1. To implement and evaluate alternate venue testing as a strategy for reaching and testing African-American MSM. We will increase rates of testing by decreasing stigma associated with testing and offering safe, convenient and free testing at venues where AA MSM gather. Those who are HIV+ will receive CD4 counts and be linked to care through our consortium of public and private care providers; 2. To implement and evaluate a social marketing as a strategy for reaching and testing African-American MSM. We will create a marketing strategy that includes a high visibility HIV testing campaign supported by influential community organizations and centered around entertainment, including web-streaming videos and podcasts on the internet. We will explore incentive-based HIV testing and an internet-based PCRS mechanism; 3. To implement and evaluate social network referrals as a strategy for reaching and testing African-American MSM; We will enroll recruiters who will receive incentives to recruit Network Associates for testing. NAs also will receive incentives when they present for testing; 4. To evaluate existing PCRS as a strategy for reaching and testing African-American MSM; we will use vouchers to track PCRS referrals in order to quantify the case- rate for new HIV diagnoses resulting from PCRS efforts. For all of these strategies, we will conduct formative research with our community partners and other AA MSM, and we will collect data in order to understand risk behaviors associated those who test in each of these strategies and the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of each strategy. ? ? ?
