Ask Me About PrEP programme reaches thousands, new research shows

PrEPster at The Love Tank's Ask Me About PrEP (AMAP) programme engaged almost 12,000 people in England, by recruiting, training and supporting 96 peer mobilisers.

An evaluation of the programme - published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice - shows that the 5 month pilot, successfully recruited to and reached key target PrEP groups.

Monitoring log-forms completed by mobilisers demonstrate that a quarter of beneficiaries of one-to-one engagements stated their intention to start or restart PrEP following their AMAP intervention. 

The evaluation highlights the acceptability of the programme to mobilisers, and the ability to reach populations with PrEP need, with a broad range of health promotion methods.

Phil Samba, PrEP lead at The Love Tank says: "AMAP provides an evidence-based and evaluated framework to reach key groups with high PrEP need. We know that many people want to receive sexual health information from people who look like them and have the same experiences as them - and this pilot adds to the evidence base to support such approaches". 

Dr Will Nutland, Director of The Love Tank says: "As attempts are made to increase access to HIV PrEP in England and beyond, AMAP provides an adaptable model that facilitates people to talk about PrEP with our peers. The pilot shows that a relatively uncostly programme can reach tens of thousands of people". 

The pilot was funded through Public Health England's (now UKHSA) HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Innovation Fund, and ran for 5 months in November 2021 until March 2022. The pilot recruited community peers across England, training and supporting the mobilisers to engage with people like them about HIV PrEP. 

The evaluation was conducted in collaboration with Jonny Edwards at the University of Lincoln, and Sara Paparini at the SHARE Collaborative, Queen Mary University of London.