A Randomized Controlled Trial to Increase HIV Testing Demand Among Female Sex Workers in Kenya Through Announcing the Availability of HIV Self-testing Via Text Message

Elizabeth A Kelvin, Gavin George, Eva Mwai, Samuel Kinyanjui, Matthew L Romo, Jacob O Odhiambo, Faith Oruko, Eston Nyaga, Kaymarlin Govender, Joanne E Mantell, Elizabeth A Kelvin, Gavin George, Eva Mwai, Samuel Kinyanjui, Matthew L Romo, Jacob O Odhiambo, Faith Oruko, Eston Nyaga, Kaymarlin Govender, Joanne E Mantell

Abstract

We assessed whether informing female sex workers about the availability of HIV self-testing at clinics in Kenya using text messages would increase HIV testing rates. We selected a sample of 2196 female sex workers registered in an electronic health record system who were irregular HIV testers and randomized them to be sent a text message announcing the availability of (1) HIV self-test kits sent three times (intervention), (2) general HIV testing sent three times (enhanced standard of care [SOC]), or (3) general HIV testing sent one time (traditional SOC). Participants in the intervention arm were significantly more likely to test for HIV during 2-month follow-up compared to those in the enhanced SOC (OR 1.9, p = 0.001). There was no difference in HIV testing between those in the enhanced SOC and the traditional SOC arms. Announcing the availability of HIV self-testing via text message increased HIV testing among this high-risk group.

Keywords: Female sex workers; HIV self-testing; HIV testing; Kenya; Randomized controlled trial.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study procedures were approved by the City University of New York Institutional Review Board, the Kenya Medical Research Institute Ethics Committee, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal Biomedical Research Ethics Committee.

Informed Consent

We used a passive informed consent process in this study as described in the paper in the section titled “Sample, eligibility and consent.”

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow of female sex workers participants (consort flowchart)

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Source: PubMed

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