SUAC0202 | Assessing the willingness to recommend pre-exposure prophylaxis to HIV-negative partners by person living with HIV in a Nigerian semi-urban city

Abdulmuminu Isah, Ezinwanee Ugochukwu, Gabriel Ezenri, Amauche Ngige, Jennifer Onyehalu, Chukwuemeka Nwachuya, Charles Idabor, Chinwe Ukwe | University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

HIV-negative sex partners of individuals living with HIV (PLHIV) are at a high risk of HIV acquisition, notwithstanding the availability of preventive strategies. With the proven effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), its adoption by HIV-negative individuals exposed to possible HIV acquisition will reduce the risk of HIV transmission. Considering that PLHIV can serve as positive support to their HIV-negative sex partners, we assessed the willingness of PLHIV to recommend PrEP to their HIV-negative partners and explored their PrEP options for such partners. Using a cross-sectional design, we sought responses from 250 randomly selected PLHIV in a public treatment center in Ankpa, north-central Nigeria, using a 13-item self-administered validated questionnaire in December 2024. A binary scale was used to assess their willingness to recommend PrEP for their HIV-negative partners, while a description of currently available PrEP options was provided for them to select their preferred options for their partners. Appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted on the collected data using IBM-SPSS (Version 28), with significance level set at p<0.05. Among the 212 participants who returned completed questionnaires (84.8% response rate), 183 (86.3%) identified as females, with a mean age of 40.3±7.6 years. Seventy-two percent of the total participants (n=153) expressed willingness to recommend PrEP to their HIV-negative sex partners, although 145 (94.7%) such respondents had an undetectable viral load. Preferences for PrEP showed that 144 (67.9%) of the participants favored long-acting injectable (LAI) PrEP compared to oral pills (p=0.011), with key reasons for the choices being convenience (84.9%) and privacy (82.5%). History of partner support (aOR: 3.7; 95% CI: 2.3–6.0) and adequate knowledge of HIV (aOR: 2.8; 95% CI: 1.8–4.4) were predictors of willingness to recommend PrEP. The findings of the study indicated that PLHIV were enthusiastic about the use of PrEP by their HIV-negative partners and would readily recommend LAIs for their partners. Given the prior support from partners and the role of HIV education in the choices of PLHIV, it is recommended that policies to improve PrEP uptake involve PLHIV, even though they are not eligible to take it themselves.