Objective: Assessing the awareness and willingness among young people in Sweden, including students at Södertörn University, to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

Design: Cross-sectional study

Methods: An online self-complete questionnaire distributed through social media channels, or in-person at Södertörn University in spring 2022.

Results: One-third (36%) of all the respondents were aware of PrEP before the survey, but almost half (47%) of the respondents answered that they would be willing to use PrEP to lower the risk of being infected with HIV. Of the students at Södertörn University, 24% were aware of PrEP before joining the survey and 43% of them were willing to use PrEP after the survey. 17% of all respondents revealed that they would be willing to use PrEP after learning about PrEP for the first time in this survey. There is an association between the risk perception of contracting HIV and the number of partners in the MSM group. 82% of cisgender female participants who have sex with males (FSM) had never heard about PrEP. The preferred treatment option among all participants was an injection once every two months.

Conclusions: Low levels of PrEP awareness were reported, especially among students at Södertörn University. The level of awareness of PrEP for the MSM group is similar to other studies. Among MSM, respondents with higher counts of sexual partners perceived a higher risk for HIV. Moreover, the low awareness level in the FSM group confirms the underrepresentation of this group in previous PrEP studies and shows the need of raising awareness and willingness to use PrEP for FSM group. In addition, LAI-PrEP was the most preferred treatment among the respondents in Sweden, which needs to be considered in future PrEP programs.