Chatuphon Phuwongsa
Bankruat Hospital, Thailand
Title: The Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the real-world on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in High-Risk HIV groups in Thailand
Biography
Biography: Chatuphon Phuwongsa
Abstract
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Real-World on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in High-Risk HIV Groups in Thailand: It performs each type during three evolutionary stages: (1) before the COVID-19 evolution stage (1 January–30 April 2021),
(2) the COVID-19 evolution stage (1 May–30 August 2021), and (3) the plateau phase (1 September– 31 December 2021). Most scrutinized literature was collected from different sources including PubMed. Mixed methods were used in a total of 245 who responded to online questionnaires (Google Form) (100%) and 30 in-depth interviews (In-depth Interview) (100%). The results showed that PrEP was known before the survey 62.04%. The most cited sources of information about PrEP were Internet/Social Media (33.47%). At 42.04% admitted that they had multiple sexual partners during the past year. An average 17.14% had sex without a condom in the last half year, 62.04% had mental health problems in the past, and an average of 51.43% of them had partially disclosed their sexual orientation to the public. The results of the in-depth interviews were 1) gaining knowledge or perceived negatively receiving PrEP services. 2) Understand that HIV prevention is more convenient and cost-effective than PrEP. 3) Use of PrEP is limited by relatively low access to services. 4) Inconvenience of accessing services during each Covid epidemic period VID-19 and 5) restrictions on access to medical services for MSM only. It should be made in order to meet the needs of each time period.