Assessing Availability of HIV/Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infection Prevention and Care Services for Trans Women and Gender Diverse People in Ontario, Canada: An Environmental Scan of Clinic Websites
Trans and gender diverse (TGD) people have heightened vulnerability to HIV/sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) driven, in part, by anti-trans stigma, yet they also face barriers to HIV/STBBI prevention and care. Integrating gender-affirming health care (GAHC; e.g., gender-affirming hormone therapy) with HIV/STBBI prevention/care could improve uptake of HIV/STBBI prevention/care for this population. Yet, the extent to which this integrated care is available is unknown. We conducted an environmental scan of active HIV/STBBI clinic websites in Ontario, Canada during June-September 2024, to determine the availability of HIV/STBBI services by geographic region and indicators of TGD inclusion. Of 198 clinic websites, 55.1% had visual or textual representation of TGD inclusion/support, with 21.7% stating nonmedical TGD affirmation programming (e.g., support group[s]) and 10.6% endorsing integrated HIV/STBBI prevention/care and GAHC. Findings underscore opportunities to increase integrated HIV/STBBI prevention and care and GAHC and to incorporate TGD inclusivity on websites to enhance TGD sexual health equity.
Authors
- Rsha Soud
- Ashley Lacombe‐Duncan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9023-8877)
- Angela Underhill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5427-4862)
- Mona Loutfy
- Ananya Inaganti
Institutions
- Women's College Hospital (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
- Published
- 2026-01-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1097/jnc.0000000000000609
- Primary Topic
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00