The Intervention With Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE) Study

February 5, 2009 updated by: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
The IMAGE Study is a cluster randomised trial of a structural intervention for the prevention of HIV and gender based violence being conducted in South Africa.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background : While there is a high level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS in rural South Africa, structural factors, including poverty and gender inequalities, have critically impeded prevention efforts based on modifying individual risk. Attempts to rigorously evaluate structural interventions for the prevention of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa remain under-developed.

Microfinance is a well-established development tool with nearly 100 million clients world wide. Loans to poor households, particularly to women, facilitate business development opportunities. Prior research has demonstrated significant economic and social benefits. Health benefits have also been documented and include improvements in immunization coverage, better nutrition, and contraceptive use. While poverty and HIV/AIDS frequently co-exist, the impact of microfinance on vulnerability to HIV has not previously been explored.

Intervention Design : The IMAGE intervention combines two components:

  1. Microfinance: Implementation of a community-level, poverty-focused microfinance programme exclusively targeting women
  2. Gender and HIV training: A two phase participatory learning and action curriculum, has been integrated into bi-weekly microfinance meetings. The first phase consists of 10 structured sessions facilitated by trainers, while the second phase facilitates community mobilsation activities from within the microfinance centre.

Study Design

The IMAGE Study randomised four pairs of communities that were matched on size and accessibility. The intervention communities received the IMAGE intervention from late 2001. Comparison communities will receive the intervention strategy approximately three years later.

The study enrols individuals into three pairs of cohorts (intervention and comparison). Data is collected on the major health-related endpoints as detailed below. Qualitative and quantitative data are also collected to document processes of change and potential pathways of impact. Data analysis will be appropriate to the cluster-randomised study design.

Cohort I : Women recruited to IMAGE intervention and Randomly selected women eligible to join IMAGE from control villages. Sample size per arm - 450. Length of follow up - 2 years. Primary outcomes: 12 month experience of intimate partner violence

Cohort II : Young people aged 14-35 living in the households of women in cohort I (Intervention and Comparison). Project sample size per arm - 750. Duration of follow up - 2 years. Primary outcomes - Condom use with last non-spousal partner

Cohort III : Randomly selected young people aged 14-35 living in Intervention communities and Comparison communities. Project sample size per arm - 1500. Duration of follow up - 3 years. Primary outcomes - Condom use with last non-spousal partner, HIV incidence

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • South Africa
    • Limpopo Province
      • Tzaneen, Limpopo Province, South Africa
        • Small Enterprise Foundation

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Cohort I (Intervention community) : Joining the IMAGE programme
  • Cohort I (Comparison community) : Female, Eligible to receive microfinance loan and residing in an IMAGE Comparison community, matched on community pair and age group (18-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56+) to the index IMAGE participant.
  • Cohort II (Intervention community) : 14-35 years old at time of interview. Current residence in the household of a woman who joins the IMAGE programme.
  • Cohort II (Comparison community) : 14-35 years old at time of interview. Current residence in the household of the non-IMAGE participant selected for inclusion in Cohort I.
  • Cohort III (Intervention community) : 14-35 years old at time of interview, Household member in a community where IMAGE is operating.
  • Cohort III (Comparison community) : 14-35 years old at time of interview. Household member in an IMAGE study community where IMAGE is not operating.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Lack of informed consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Cohort I: 12 month experience of intimate partner violence
Cohort II: Condom use with last non-spousal partner
Cohort III: Condom use with last non-spousal partner
Cohort III: HIV incidence

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Collaborators

Department for International Development, United Kingdom
University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Small Enterprise Foundation, Tzaneen, South Africa
National Department of Health, South Africa
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Ford Foundation

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Paul M Pronyk, MD, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK & Rural AIDS and Development Action Research Programme, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2001

Study Completion

April 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 20, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 20, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

October 21, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 9, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2009

Last Verified

December 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • M991108; 598; SK/RN - 03PRT/24

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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