THAD0406 | SAFE ONLINE? EXPERIENCES OF YOUNG ADULT KEY POPULATIONS SEEKING HEALTH INFORMATION ONLINE

Bernard Koomson | University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

Rapid technological advancement in digital technologies is key to the realization of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially SDG 3 (Good health and wellbeing). In terms of health, digital platforms can provide safe access to information on HIV prevention, treatment, and care. Nonetheless, digital technologies may indirectly constitute vehicles for the abuse of at-risk groups, such as key populations in HIV. Under the framework of transnational participatory action research (T-PAR), focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted with 120 young adult key populations (18–30 years) in selected urban, peri-urban, and rural locations in Ghana, Kenya, and Vietnam. Transcripts were managed and thematically analyzed on Deedose following robust quality assurance checks. Ethical approval was secured from the Ethics Review Committee of the Ghana Health Service. The findings of the research revealed the progressive connections between stigma, technology-facilitated abuse (TFA), and the lack of remedy for young adult key populations who utilize digital technologies and social media spaces in search of health information and personal relationships. Erroneous perceptions about young adult key populations made them susceptible to stigmatization, surveillance, and a variety of abuse online, including cyberbullying, unauthorized sharing of private messages and pictures, cyberstalking, trolling or verbal abuse, electronic dating violence, image-based sexual abuse, extortion, blackmailing, and revenge porn. Moreover, concerns about proposed anti-LGBTQ bills in Ghana and Kenya were anxiously registered by study participants during the fieldwork as a catalyst to stigmatization against key populations online. Furthermore, stigma hampered any attempt by young adults to seek redress with law enforcement officials, as they were further stigmatized, leading to multiple forms of abuse and harm. In conclusion, I argue that digital platforms should not be treated as isolated spaces but living spaces where the rights of young people are upheld, protected, and accounted for when infringed upon. Accordingly, interventions for TFA need to move beyond prevention and mitigation to justice and protection.