Giving Compass' Take:

• PSI's network member called Pan American Social Marketing Organization (PASMO) provides online support for individuals in Latin America who are HIV-positive.

• This program offers a different way of HIV support by connecting with individuals online through social media and WhatsApp. How is this level of alternative care useful for increasing and expanding access to resources? 

• Read about how social listening is helping drive healthcare. 

Peter’s eyes nervously scanned his Facebook search results for a page that looked familiar or helpful. Peter had just returned to Nicaragua a few months earlier, and he was almost out of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) medications he had received in Costa Rica. He was afraid of the consequences of abandoning his treatment again.

Peter’s parents took him to Costa Rica when he was seven years old. It was there that he was diagnosed with HIV at age 20.

In 2018, 28-year-old Peter and his family were struggling financially and returned to Nicaragua amidst political turmoil and protests. He spent his first several weeks back in the country searching the internet for a place where he could find support.  During one of his searches, Peter discovered a Facebook Fan Page called “Versátil”, a code word used in the gay community to describe themselves.

The Fan Page was a new social media initiative created by the Pan American Social Marketing Organization (PASMO), PSI’s network member, under USAID’s Combination Prevention Program to help increase access to HIV services for young and at-risk men who have sex with men (MSM) in Central America. The program provides these groups with key information and services around HIV testing and counseling, and linkage to care if HIV positive.

Peter is one of more than 1,000 at-risk Nicaraguan MSM and transgender women the Combination Prevention Program has reached through online interventions, including referrals from the Versátil Facebook Fan Page and Instagram account. Across Central America, 37 percent of MSM and transgender women who were reached online received HIV testing and counseling. One of every 14 tests had a reactive result, with an estimated HIV prevalence of seven percent, and 77 percent of the positive cases were linked to comprehensive care services and treatment.

Read the full article about online HIV support by Alejandra Cabrera at PSI.