HIV testing serves as the gateway to HIV prevention and treatment. However, little is known about the correlates of HIV testing among men in the Caribbean. The Anderson Behavioral Model was used to examine factors associated with HIV testing among 7,354 men who participated in the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey conducted in Haiti. Few men (35%) reported having ever been tested for HIV. Logistic regression analyses revealed that HIV testing increased with education and wealth. Marital status was associated with HIV testing, with married men more likely to have been tested (aOR: 2.57, 95% CI: 2.07–3.19) than unmarried men. Positive attitudes towards people living with HIV, indicated by willing to care for a relative who has HIV/AIDS, was also correlated with higher odds of having been tested (aOR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.08–1.51). Men who reported condom use during last sex were more likely to have been tested (OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.33–1.88). The findings indicate that HIV testing rates remain low among men in Haiti and more efforts are needed to increase HIV testing among men who are not married, have low level of education, and engage in unprotected sex.

Researchers' views illustrate the need to re-evaluate patient engagement in PCOR based on current realities. Given the many challenges to engagement that researchers encounter, it may be more productive to redefine the process of patient engagement so that the issues researchers now face are taken into account in future funding announcements, engagement rubrics and methodology frameworks developed.

The emergence of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) has created a paradigm shift in the way health outcomes research is designed, conducted and disseminated. While PCOR expands the potential for patients to play a key advisory role in every aspect of the research process, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has long provided this opportunity for engaging communities in research. CBPR is an excellent tool for achieving PCOR goals of improving the health of all people by providing them with evidence-based information for making informed healthcare decisions. We propose ways by which PCOR can effectively use CBPR principles to engage patients in general, and specifically patients from underserved communities. The hope is that this will help to reduce and eventually eliminate health disparities.

In South Africa, more than 2 million people living with HIV are men aged 15 years and older, and heterosexual intercourse remains the predominant mode of HIV transmission. Knowledge of the sociocultural factors that influence men's decisions about whether, when, or how to disclose seropositive status remains incompletely understood. Using the PEN-3 cultural model as a guide, this study explored the sociocultural factors influencing HIV disclosure among men in South Africa. Four focus group discussions with 27 participants were used to determine the perceptions, enabling and nurturing factors that influence how men chose to reveal or conceal knowledge of their seropositive status. The results revealed that notions of male identity in the South African context, family, and community factors contribute to disclosure and nondisclosure of seropositive status among men living with HIV/AIDS. Future interventions should work to address these factors, as they are necessary with supporting disclosure among men living with HIV.

Healthcare experiences among women living with HIV/AIDS (WLHA), determine their utilisation of sexual and reproductive health services, which ultimately influences their decisions on childbearing. This study aimed to understand the importance of healthcare support in the childbearing decision-making processes of WLHA, and its impact on eliminating new paediatric HIV infections. We conducted in-depth interviews between July and August 2012 with 15 WLHA receiving clinical HIV care at a teaching hospital in Lagos. Using PEN-3 cultural model, as a guide we explored perceptions of healthcare support pre- and post-partum. Findings indicate that faith in God for the delivery of a healthy child is significant during the pre-partum period, while the advice of healthcare workers concerning childbearing and access to available healthcare services carry more weight post-partum. Our findings have important implications for HIV treatment and care programmes geared towards WLHA considering childbearing, and ultimately the UN Global plan to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, as we move towards the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.