Grindr & arc Maltese Sexual Health Survey Findings

Last Month Grindr 4 Equality and arc teamed up once again, this time to conduct a survey

asking Maltese Grindr users about sexual health.

The survey's aim was to take a snapshot the respondents’ knowledge, attitudes and practices

in relation to sexual health. The findings of this survey will help Grindr and arc better tailor

future information campaigns on the app so that our community is even more able to take our

health into our own hands.

Based on these results, we can’t make definite generalisations about gay, bi, and trans

people in Malta or even those using Grindr, but it does paint a picture that we can

learn a lot from.

130 respondents anonymously answered the survey in February of 2017, and here are a few of

the highlights…

While almost 40% of respondents had been tested for an SAI within the past 4 months, 22.6%

said they had never tested in their entire life. Nineteen percent (19%) said their most recent

test was over a year ago.

Although the majority of people know where they can get tested for free, 39% still said they

don’t know where to go. Grindr 4 Equality and arc are committed to reducing this number in

the coming year. We want everyone to be able to access anonymous testing, including one of

the most recent innovations available in Malta - self-test kits.

At arc, we have been elated at the reception and effectiveness of last year's tongue-in- cheek

social media campaign. Sixty percent (60%) of respondents are aware that HIV is a growing

problem among men and trans people who have sex with men in the country with annual

growth of 57%. This fact comes from arc’s LGBTIQ 2016 health report and featured in parts

of the online campaign.

As many people now know, PrEP is a daily pill that prevents HIV, and it’s one of the newest

and most powerful tools we have in the fight against the HIV epidemic. Unfortunately, even

though PrEP is available in Malta, it is so expensive that many people who could benefit from

it can’t afford it.

We found that 66% of respondents knew about PrEP, 4% were already on it, and 79% would

be interested in taking it, if it were available for free. Some respondents, of course, said that

this question didn’t apply to them because they are HIV-positive.

For our final question, we asked, "Do you have other sexual health questions that we can help answer?" ; What our respondents wrote in on this question was very illuminating and we’ll be working to answer the questions submitted in coming days on www.testmalta.info

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