Evaluation of the Relative Effectiveness of Three HIV Testing Strategies Targeting African-American Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in New York City: Response to Letter from Renaud et al.

Excerpt

We appreciate the letter from Renaud et al. and the contributions of our colleagues at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to this study. Regarding the inclusion of previous positives in our analyses, as stated in the paper, information on testing history for men tested via alternate venue testing and the social network strategy was self-reported by participants. Additionally, we further acknowledge in the paper that previous records of those tested via these two strategies were not available and that, consequently, positivity rates for these strategies could be inflated by the inclusion of known seropositive men. However, it should be noted that the main conclusion of our study was that multiple modalities may be required to engage previously undiagnosed black/African-American men into HIV testing. This conclusion underscores our statement that the population of HIV-positive black/African-American men is not monolithic and that the diversity of their life experiences, social, and demographic factors (e.g., age, sexual orientation) may direct these men to differing contexts for HIV testing. Thus decisions about the best approaches to detecting positives should be guided by an appreciation and respect for individual differences. Further, even with the inclusion of duplicates, our data suggest that the numbers for partner notification are comparable to those for the social network strategy. …