December 1, 2025Open Access

418 Factors associated with HIV amongst migrant MSM in Europe

Key Points

HIV prevalence is 17.92% among migrant MSM, indicating a critical public health issue.
Screening detected HIV in 154 out of 2402 migrants, highlighting urgent intervention needs in this community.
Point-of-care testing was employed to diagnose HIV infections across 10 European countries, improving diagnosis rates.
Stigma and discrimination significantly limit healthcare access for HIV-positive MSM, necessitating targeted support strategies.

Abstract

Abstract EP1.4, e-Poster Terminal 1, September 4, 2025, 11:35 - 13:00 Aims In 2022 migrants comprised 48% of all new HIV diagnoses in the EU/EEA and only four countries provided data across the care continuum for migrants. We sought to implement a HIV screening strategy for migrants in 10 European countries. Methods Between April 2022 – March 2023, we conducted the Mi-Health HIV Partnership, a study of migrants in 10 European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden). HIV infection was determined by combined antibody/antigen, point-of-care, rapid blood or rapid oral test. Additional study variables were collected through a survey of all participants. Results We screened 2402 migrants and diagnosed 154 with HIV, a prevalence rate of 6.41%. Amongst the subset of migrants self-identifying as MSM (n = 413), 74 were diagnosed with HIV, a prevalence rate of 17.92%. Of the HIV-positive MSM, 64.86% identified as South/Central American, compared to 47.46% of all MSM sampled. Higher levels (90.54%) of HIV-positive MSM were linked into healthcare compared to all MSM (48.43%). Additionally, 10.82% of HIV-positive MSM reported no/limited access to healthcare as compared to 19.73% of all MSM with no/limited access. Substantially higher levels of HIV-positive MSM (47.30%) reported stigma/racism/discrimination as their primary barrier to healthcare access as compared to all MSM in our sample (34.14%). Markedly higher levels of HIV-positive MSM identified engaging in sex work or sex with a sex worker as their primary behavioural vulnerability as compared to all MSM (64.86% versus 35.59%, respectfully). Finally, HIV-positive MSM reported lower levels of both PrEP awareness (43.24%) and using PrEP at least once in the previous year (4.05%) as compared to all MSM (68.28% and 13.08%, respectfully). Conclusions HIV infection rates are higher amongst key population migrants. There is a need to implement community-led, targeted, culturally-sensitive screening, engagement and treatment strategies to address the multilevel barriers faced by migrants.

Ask AI

Helpful

Bookmark

View Full Paper