Greater Access to and Awareness of HIV/AIDS Services

According to a 2006 survey of 263 MSM living in Maine, the following are barriers to obtaining HIV/AIDS services:

1) Difficulty traveling to areas with services

2) Not knowing that services exist in certain areas

3) Not knowing where to go to get HIV/AIDS services

4) Not realizing that they are eligible for free services

5) Organizations are closed during evenings and weekends

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The implications of barriers to obtaining HIV/AIDS

services in Maine are worrying, as many studies

have found that unmet prevention and treatment

needs are linked to negative outcomes, such as poor

adherence to HAART regimes (30, 31, 32).  

Ways to Increase Access to and Awareness of HIV/AIDS services:

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1) Telephone-linked support groups, ranging from informal conversations between two HIV-positive individuals to structured therapeutic sessions with trained counselors (34).

2) Running a media campaign using the internet, radio, TV and newspapers.

3) Increasing HIV/AIDS advertising at places frequented by high-risk groups.

"Maine TV keeps sponsoring advertisements during the flu season about where to get flu shots or about flu shot availability and what not, but you never see the TV sponsoring anything about where you can go to get tested [for HIV] or suggesting that people go get tested" (29).