Grant: Project Grant

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a medication that prevents HIV infection up to 99% of the time. Making it more widely available worldwide is key to stopping the spread of HIV. People who migrate from another country, women as well as gay and bisexual men can face great difficulty accessing PrEP. In both high- and lower-income countries, not knowing about PrEP, mistaken beliefs about it or about one's own HIV risk, language barriers, stigma, and trouble finding or using appropriate HIV prevention services can limit access to PrEP. This project will create and test a multilingual chatbot (MARVIN-CONNECT) that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help migrants, women, and gay and bisexual men learn about PrEP, understand whether it may be suitable for them, and connect them with appropriate healthcare services. The tool will be designed with community members (namely, women, migrant people and gay and bisexual men), healthcare providers, and other stakeholders. This will ensure the chatbot is adapted to the local culture, appropriate, easy to use, and trustworthy. The study will take place in four different sites in Canada, Germany, and Ghana. First, the research team will work with communities and healthcare providers in each site to better understand their needs for the MARVIN-CONNECT chatbot. Next, with partners, the research team will co-develop the underlying technology for the chatbot, with careful attention to privacy, safety, and the responsible use of AI. Finally, the team will test the AI-powered chatbot in real life in each site to see if it is feasible to use, acceptable to users, and helpful for users to learn about PrEP and access it or related care. By improving access to HIV prevention services, this project aims to reduce unfair HIV-related health gaps across different settings. The MARVIN-CONNECT chatbot will also provide a freely available digital tool that can be adapted and scaled for other health problems.