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Category: Project

Description: The 74th World Health Assembly, held in April 2021, reaffirmed the commitment of the signatory countries (which includes Brazil) to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world by 2030. To this end signatory countries made a commitment to implement strategies to achieve the goals of 95% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) being diagnosed; 95% of diagnosed PLHIV being on sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 95% of PLHIV on antiretroviral treatment have suppressed viral load by 2025. Thus, expanding and facilitating access to HIV testing, and enabling early diagnosis and treatment, are crucial to starting the HIV cascade care and achieving viral load suppression. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated in Brazil, which means that it has affected certain segments of the population disproportionately, for instance, Men who have sex with other men (MSM), and transgender women. Strategies for detecting HIV infection in these populational groups are critical since this is the first step toward antiretroviral therapy and, ultimately, achieving an undetectable viral load. Since the 1980s, rapid HIV testing and counselling programs have been important strategies for increasing HIV/AIDS diagnosis in Brazil. However, MSM and transgender women continue to experience societal barriers such as poverty and discrimination to accessing HIV prevention, testing, and treatment, which increases their vulnerability to poor health-related outcomes. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been considered the greatest level of scientific evidence to support evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based medicine is based on studies of medical treatments and medications, which often rely on the findings of randomized clinical trials. However, the field of public health is facing a yet to be defined transition between the classic RCTc and innovative options such as transportability. In the meantime, scoping review are key consolidated method to support the decision-making process in public health. Scoping reviews benefit the public health field by synthesizing evidence from different epidemiological and qualitative study designs and allowing the inclusion of indexed scientific and grey literature. Therefore, we aimed to carry out a Scoping Review, integrating data from indexed scientific and grey literature (e.g., theses, dissertations, technical reports) to better understand how rapid testing and health-related promotion actions targeted the population of MSM and transgender women in Brazil from 2004 to 2021. We will summarize the barriers, limitations, and successes of HIV rapid testing and health-related promotion programs to encourage evidence-based policy for these populations.