Awareness and uptake of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescent and young key populations in Nigeria: a secondary data analysis of the 2020 Integrated Biological & Behavioural Surveillance Survey

ABSTRACT

Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a critical intervention for HIV prevention among key populations (KP) in Nigeria. However, little is known about its coverage among adolescent and young key populations (AYKP). Using the 2020 Integrated Biological & Behavioural Surveillance Survey conducted among KP, including female sex workers (FSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), and transgender people (TG), we assessed the awareness and uptake of PrEP among AYKP (15-24 years) in Nigeria. We performed weighted descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses. Of the 6882 AYKP included in this study, 36.1% were aware of PrEP, ranging from 47.9% in MSM to 19.8% in FSW. Compared with FSW, MSM (aOR = 3.7, 95%CI = 3.22–4.35) and TG (aOR = 2.6, 95%CI = 2.18–2.98) had significant higher odds of PrEP awareness. Among those aware of PrEP, 24.5% had ever taken PrEP. The uptake of PrEP varied by KP group: TG (28.1%), MSM (25.3%), PWID (18.0%), and FSW (14.4%). MSM (aOR = 2.6, 95%CI = 1.72–4.07) and TG (aOR = 2.7, 95%CI = 1.71–4.14) had significant higher odds of PrEP uptake relative to FSW. The awareness and uptake of PrEP among AYKP in Nigeria is low. This calls for more awareness creation about PrEP addressing the barriers that limit its uptake.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV prevention
• key populations
• pre-exposure prophylaxis
• youth
• young persons

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Federal Ministry of Health, Institute for Global Public Health, University of Manitoba, and donor and implementing partners that contributed to the conduct of 2020 IBBSS. Financial support for the 2020 IBBSS was provided by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.