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Social Media–Based Secondary Distribution of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Syphilis Self-testing Among Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men
Open accessAbstract
Background: Social media and secondary distribution (distributing self-testing kits by indexes through their networks) both show strong promise to improve human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) self-testing uptake. We assessed an implementation program in Zhuhai, China, which focused on the secondary distribution of HIV/syphilis self-test kits among men who have sex with men (MSM) via social media. Methods: Men aged ≥16 years, born biologically male, and ever had sex with another man were recruited as indexes. Banner ads on a social media platform invited the participants to apply for up to 5 self-test kits every 3 months. Index men paid a deposit of US$15/kit refundable upon submitting a photograph of a completed test result via an online submission system. They were informed that they could distribute the kits to others (referred to as “alters”). Results: A total of 371 unique index men applied for 1150 kits (mean age, 28.7 [standard deviation, 6.9] years), of which 1141 test results were returned (99%). Among them, 1099 were valid test results; 810 (74%) were from 331 unique index men, and 289 tests (26%) were from 281 unique alters. Compared to index men, a higher proportion of alters were naive HIV testers (40% vs 21%; P < .001). The total HIV self-test reactivity rate was 3%, with alters having a significantly higher rate than indexes (5% vs 2%; P = .008). A total of 21 people (3%) had a reactive syphilis test result. Conclusions: Integrating social media with the secondary distribution of self-test kits may hold promise to increase HIV/syphilis testing coverage and case identification among MSM.
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The systematic review included 12 publications of about seven different studies, of which two were RCTs.
“Overall, the review included 12 publications of about seven different studies (61-72), of which two were RCTs (64, 66).”
From Updated recommendations for the treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Treponema pallidum (syphilis) and new recommendations on syphilis testing and partner services (2024) · cites this paper as [70]
The Background identifies this paper as a study evaluating social media–based secondary distribution of HIV/syphilis self-testing, so it can serve as one of the publications cited in the review. It does not establish the review’s totals of 12 publications, approximately seven studies, or two RCTs. The Discussion says this study had no comparison group and was not itself an RCT; page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Research works printed but not linked: 25
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Metadata
- Authors
- Wu, D., Zhou, Y., Yang, N., Huang, S., He, X., Tucker, J., Li, X., Smith, K. M., Ritchwood, T., Jiang, X., Liu, X., Wang, Y., Huang, W., Ong, J., Fu, H., Bao, H., Pan, S., Dai, W., & Tang, W.
- Affiliations
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Zhuhai Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Zhuhai Xutong Voluntary Services Center, Zhuhai, China
- Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Duke University (US)
- Health Commission of Zhuhai, Zhuhai, China
- University of North Carolina Project–China, Guangzhou, China
- Emory University (US)
- Eastern Virginia Medical School (US)
- Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (CN)
- Southern Medical University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Tang, Weiming
- ORCID
- Venue
- Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-06-26
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- e2251-e2257
- ISSN
- 1058-4838 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-6591
- PMC
- PMC8492201
- OpenAlex
- W3037568361
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 1.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- Clinical Infectious Diseases (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFE0103800)
- Academy of Medical Sciences
- Newton Fund (NIF/R1/181020)
- National Institutes of Health (NIAID] 1R01AI114310-01, NIAID K24AI143471, R25 AI140495)
- University of North Carolina Center for AIDS Research (NIAID 5P30AI050410)
- National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2018ZX10101-001-001-003)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81903371, 81772240)
- Zhuhai Medical and Health Science and Technology Plan Project (20181117A010064)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
- Social Sciences › Health › Social Media in Health Education
- Keywords
- HIV self-testing, secondary distribution, social media, men who have sex with men, HIV testing uptake, syphilis testing
- MeSH terms
- Sexual and Gender Minorities, Self-Testing, Adult, China, HIV, Humans, Male, Mass Screening, Syphilis, HIV Infections, Homosexuality, Male, Social Media
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