To better understand contextual factors among people who identify as women in Alabama that predict STI/HIV infection and PrEP use, we will refine an existing evidence-based mobile health app (HealthMpowerment or HMP) to optimally engage and retain a digital cohort of women at-risk for HIV infection (i.e. prior infection in the past 3 months with gonorrhea or syphilis). Using a sampling strategy based on geospatial analysis of HIV-risk, we will enroll and follow our cohort longitudinally to assess factors associated with incident STI/HIV infection as well as utilization of PrEP through iterative self-collected STI/HIV testing and survey assessments.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an important biomedical human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention tool and may particularly benefit black, cis and trans-gender women, who are at an increased risk for HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). The purpose of this study is to use a population-based approach to create a cohort of cis and trans-gender women at risk for future HIV acquisition to better understand the factors associated with the risk of STIs and HIV diagnosis and predictors of PrEP use.