Awareness and Utilization of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Adults in Botswana in Year 2021

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-906-3_24How to use a DOI?

Keywords

PreP; Utilization; Awareness; HIV

Abstract

Advancement in biomedical science has led to the discovery of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) as new strategies for prevention of Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV). Despite the proven effectiveness of PrEP in preventing HIV transmission, awareness and the use remain low in various populations. This re-search project investigates the awareness and utilization of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among adults in Botswana in year 2021. A two-stage stratified cluster sample survey was conducted among adults in Botswana. The survey defined an adult as someone aged 15-64 years. Data collection happened between March and August and the sample size has 13,560 households. A total of 10,210 households completed a house-hold questionnaire. Within the interviewed households, all adults aged 15-64 years who slept in the household previous night were eligible to complete an individual questionnaire. Data was collected using structured questionnaire that assessed the use and awareness of PrEP among adults (BAIS, 2021). According to The Firth Botswana AIDS Impact Survey (2021) the study found out that among all the eligible respondents, 26.4% had heard about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) with higher rates among females at 30.1% than among males at 22.6%. It was also identified that 69.8% among adults who are HIV negative have heard about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and willing to use it, 68.8% among females and 70.7% among males. The research also indicated that among adults who tested HIV negative 11.2% re-ported that they had taken PrEP, 11.1% among females and 11.4% among males and among all adults who heard of PrEP was higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Recommendations include developing actionable strategies for healthcare providers and policymakers to enhance education and accessibility of PrEP looking at the findings presented by this study, explore perceived barriers to PrEP use, including stigma, lack of information, and fear of side effects and increasing awareness of PrEP among adults through health education and program services such as radios, public service announcement and television.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Babli Kumari
AU  - Boago Elisha
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/12
TI  - Awareness and Utilization of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Adults in Botswana in Year 2021
BT  - Proceedings of Botho University International Research Conference (BUIRC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 398
EP  - 410
SN  - 3005-155X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-906-3_24
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-906-3_24
ID  - Kumari2025
ER  -