Building a complementary approach to HIV service delivery for key populations using health facilities in collaboration with community-based organizations in Liberia

Gift Kamanga¹, Nana Fosua Clement¹,Thomas Hallie¹, Rachel Lyimo¹,Danielle de Mora²,Cytirus Kerbay¹, Michael Odo^1,3, Lisa Harris¹, Samretta Caldwell³, Julia T. Garbo³, Natasha Mack², Pradeep K. Thakur², Titus Koikoi⁴, Rose Wilcher², Helene Sherman², Christopher Akolo²

1. EpiC Project, FHI 360, Liberia
2. EpiC Project, FHI 360, Washington Dc, US
3. National AIDS and STI Control Program, Ministry of Health, Liberia
4. USAID, Liberia

*Corresponding Author: Gift Kamanga; E-mail:gkamanga@fhi360.org

Key populations (KPs), including female sex workers (FSWs), men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender (trans) people, prisoners, and people who use drugs, have specific risk behaviours and other vulnerabilities that place them at increased risk of HIV¹. In addition, they play an important role in the dynamics of HIV prevention and transmission both within and outside of KP communities, as KPs and the general population are frequently interconnected through their sexual networks. For example, in a pooled cross-sectional study in three countries in sub-Saharan Africa, 54% of MSM had concurrent relationships with heterosexual partners, while studies in Malawi and Nigeria reported concurrence of heterosexual and same-sex partners among 56% and 47% of MSM, respectively^2-4.