Men in sub-Saharan Africa are less likely than women to engage in HIV services across the care cascade, resulting in poorer clinical outcomes. Health care facilities have achieved limited HIV testing and treatment coverage in men, with barriers including confidentiality concerns, distance to the facility, inconvenient hours, and perceptions that facilities provide women-centred services. Other barriers to male engagement include stigma, poverty, and feelings of compromised masculinity associated with seeking health care. Community-based HIV interventions can overcome barriers associated with facilities and increase men’s engagement in care.
Social and livelihood interventions can reduce stigma and poverty. Community-based testing interventions (particularly home and mobile) have high acceptability and reach more men than health care facility-based approaches. For men testing HIV…
