Ismael Maatouk

and 1 more

Rationale, aims and objectives: In Lebanon, HIV is concentrated among men who have sex with men (MSM). Healthcare workers in testing centers are trained through workshops to gain HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) information and skills. The objective of this report is to evaluate this intervention. Methods: Nine workshops were conducted in 2018. Each workshop was introduced and concluded with a pre and post intervention questionnaire that addressed HIV knowledge, health-risk behaviours, STIs testing. Results: A total of 144 participants were included. HIV knowledge score increased by 37.5% (p<0.05) after the interventions. The areas with the lowest knowledge after the training were the questions about non-sexual HIV transmission, the fluids containing HIV, prevention and treatment of HIV. STIs knowledge score showed a 29.7% increase (p<0.05). Stigma score showed an increase by 11.7% (p>0.05). In all scores, there were differences between urban and rural areas. Conclusion: These findings consolidate the value of these training sessions and highlights the importance of the use of innovative learning approaches. Further efforts and interventions should address stigma and discrimination among service providers to reach better outcomes in Lebanon. A comparison with some of the indicators that exist in previous reports show higher knowledge in healthcare workers compared to MSM community that is served by these healthcare workers. These activities among health care workers are crucial to increase HIV knowledge and reduce high-risk behaviors among key populations.