Men and HIV: evidence-based approaches and interventions

Overview

Men experience increased risk of morbidity and mortality across all ten major contributors to poor health and continue to lag behind women regarding HIV services and other health outcomes. Globally, men now account for the majority of new HIV infections. In 2022, only 72% of men living with HIV (aged 15 years or older) had access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy (ART) compared to 82% of women living with HIV in the same age range.

Improving coverage of HIV services for men is critical for population health and HIV epidemic control including through increased, consistent coverage of ART and durable viral suppression. Recent models show that improving men’s HIV testing and treatment coverage could reduce HIV incidence among women by half.

This framework summarizes barriers to health services experienced by men and overarching strategies to address barriers and improve health service outcomes for men across 3 core pillars of person-centred care – access to care, quality services and supportive services. Person-centred care is good for everyone and should be implemented universally. In this document, we use the term men to include adolescent boys and men aged 15 years and above.