Protecting Men Who Have Sex With Men From HIV Infection With an mHealth App for Partner Notification: Observational Study

Abstract

Background Traditional partner notification methods have been implemented for HIV-infected patients, as well as HIV treatment, in order to identify people at risk of HIV infection, especially men who have sex with men (MSM), since they are more likely to have casual sex partners. These traditional methods have some limitations. Objective Our study focused on developing an mHealth app to improve partner notification in practice for MSM; the study then focused on evaluating the effects of the app. Methods We developed an mHealth app with different modules using Java and HTML5 and tested it in an MSM community to prevent HIV transmission. The HIV incidence stratified by different follow-up periods were calculated. Poisson regression and social networks were used to estimate the risk ratios and to identify the connection among MSM, respectively. Results In addition to the partner notification module, which is the kernel of the app, we developed a test result self-query module to enable MSM to get their approved test results in a timely manner, a prompt and warning module to alert users to protect themselves from high-risk conditions, and a health education module to teach users more skills regarding HIV/AIDS prevention. Over a 1-year duration, a total of 3186 MSM used the app, of which 678 had at least two HIV test results since becoming app users; they were included in the final analysis. Among 678 users, a total of 6473 self-queries and 623 partner notifications were recorded, which identified 180 social networks of MSM app users. Those who used the partner notification function were more likely to have self-queries (P<.001). The 678 MSM app users covered 296.47 person-years and contributed to 20 HIV seroconversions; the cumulative HIV infection incidence was estimated as 6.75 per 100 person-years (95% CI 4.38-10.01). We found that the longer the app was used, the lower the HIV incidence (>5 months vs ≤5 months: 2.22 per 100 person-years vs 6.99 per 100 person-years; risk ratio 0.32, 95% CI 0.12- 0.87). Conclusions The app developed in this study is consistent with the World Health Organization’s sensitivity and confidentiality recommendations; it has the potential to reduce the risk of HIV infection among MSM.

Prevalence of and factors associated with advanced HIV disease among newly diagnosed people living with HIV in Guangdong Province, China

“…Late presentation was associated with unknown serostatus of partners among heterosexuals, and was less likely among MSM who reported a known HIV-infected partner as an infection source [33,34]. Partner notification was feasible and has the potential to reduce the risk of HIV infection among the high-risk population in China [35,36]. Contact tracing can feasibly expand HIV testing uptake and identify new HIV infections among sexual partners of HIVpositive individuals [37,38].…”

Moderating effect of illicit drug use on the relationship between sexual behaviours and prevalence of HIV or sexually transmitted infections

“…Our study revealed that illicit drug use had a moderating effect between seeking a sexual partner via mobile apps and HIV and STI, but not in seeking sexual partner via a website and HIV and STI. As many efforts have been devoted to developing a mobile app to reduce HIV prevalence in MSM population [35], our finding speaks to an urgent need to integrate not only HIV prevention but also drug prevention efforts into such intervention.…”

Developing HIV Assisted Partner Notification Services Tailored to Mexican Key Populations: A Qualitative Approach

“…users are offered the referral) (35). As for overcoming the di culty of contacting casual partners, one option recommended by other studies-and suggested by MSM in our ndings as well-is geosocial networking app-based noti cation, which MSM have shown high willingness to use, particularly with an anonymous setting (36)(37)(38). Finally, a last consideration for the implementation of APNS in Mexico is that most of the states' criminal codes contemplate putting others at risk for infection as a crime (39); APNS should be implemented in all HIV/AIDS services to help avoiding potential legal cases.…”