About 23 percent have unmet need for dental care, 19 percent have unmet need for eye or vision care
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) — For men who have sex with men (MSM) and are receiving HIV medical care, the most prevalent unmet needs are for non-HIV medical care services, according to a report published in the Sept. 23 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Nicholas P. DeGroote, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used data from the Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) surveillance system to examine the unmet needs for ancillary services among MSM receiving outpatient HIV medical care during 2013 to 2014.
The researchers found that the most prevalent unmet needs were for non-HIV medical care services, according to self-reported needs of those responding to the MMP survey. About 23 and 19 percent had unmet needs for dental care and eye or vision care, respectively. The prevalence of unmet needs was higher among young, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic/Latino MSM.
“State and local health departments, community-based organizations, and health care providers might improve the health of MSM living with HIV by promoting access to ancillary services using strategies that increase patient awareness of how to obtain these services, especially among young, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic/Latino MSM,” the authors write.
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