On October 15, CHIPTS joined partners across the country in observing National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day, a day that highlights the importance of helping address the disproportionate impact of HIV, promoting HIV testing, and stopping HIV stigma in Hispanic/Latinx communities. In honor of #NLAAD we are excited to share recent research focused on this important population from our CHIPTS faculty.

According to the CDC HIV Surveillance report, Hispanic/Latino persons accounted for about 33% of all HIV incidences in 2022, at a rate that was 5 times higher than among non-Hispanic White persons (7%). There is a disproportionate impact among Hispanic/Latino persons with the rate of males (36.5%) being 8 times the rate of females (4.6%). The overwhelming majority of HIV transmissions among Hispanic/Latino men is through male-to-male sexual contact (79%), while as for women the majority of transmission is through heterosexual contact (80%).

With the tremendous impact surveillance efforts have in identifying incidence rates. It’s important to capture the social and structural drivers of inequities in Latinx communities and find ways to address these inequities by aiming to improve HIV prevention, care, and treatment. Improvements must be tailored to the community, considering accessibility and cultural competence.

Several CHIPTS faculty members have conducted research on the impact of HIV, the HIV care continuum, and HIV syndemics as they affect Latinx communities. Recent publications reflecting this work include:

Del Pino, H. E., Rojas, E., Dācus, J. D., Durán, P., Martínez, A. J., Hernández, J. A., Ayala, G., Zea, M. C., Schrode, K., & Harawa, N. T. (2023). Would the Siblings of Latinx Men Who Have Sex With Men Encourage Their Brothers to Use PrEP? Findings From a Feasibility and Acceptability Study. AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education, 35(5), 390–405. https://doi.org/10.1521/aeap.2023.35.5.390

• The paper explored whether siblings can be engaged in PrEP promotion. The study used the Information-Motivation-Behavior model to develop and conduct surveys and dyadic interviews with Latino men who have sex with men (LMSM) and their siblings (n = 31) and three sibling-only focus groups (n = 20).

Storholm, E. D., Ogunbajo, A., Nacht, C. L., Opalo, C., Horvath, K. J., Lyman, P., Flynn, R., Reback, C. J., Blumenthal, J., Moore, D. J., Bolan, R., & Morris, S. (2024). Facilitators of PrEP Persistence among Black and Latinx Transgender Women in a PrEP Demonstration Project in Southern California. Behavioral medicine (Washington, D.C.), 50(1), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2022.2105794

• In this qualitative study, unique data was presented on the facilitators of PrEP persistence from Black and Latinx transgender women who initiated PrEP and exhibited varying levels of persistence during a demonstration project in Southern California. PrEP persistence was assessed by collecting quantitative intracellular tenofovir-diphosphate (TFV-DP) levels on dried blood spot (DBS) samples collected at weeks 12 and 48.

Brooks, R. A., Nieto, O., Rosenberg-Carlson, E., Morales, K., Üsküp, D. K., Santillan, M., & Inzunza, Z. (2024). Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing PrEP and Other Sexual Health Services Among Immigrant Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men in Los Angeles County. Archives of sexual behavior, 53(9), 3673–3685. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-02928-z

• Qualitative research centered on exploring barriers that ILMSM experience in accessing PrEP and other sexual services is extremely limited, despite a high prevalence of HIV in this population. In this study, a purposive sample of ILMSM (n = 25) was recruited to participate in a semi-structured in-depth interview to identify the distinct barriers and facilitators ILMSM experience in accessing sexual health services given their complex intersectional identities of being an immigrant, Latino, and a sexual minority man.