"Promotion of Couples' Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV through Influential Networks in Two African Capital Cities" by Shauntice Allen

Article

Promotion of Couples' Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV through Influential Networks in Two African Capital Cities

BMC Public Health (2007)

Shauntice Allen, Emory University
Etienne Karita, Emory University
Elwyn Chomba, Emory University
David L. Roth, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Joseph Telfair, Georgia Southern University
Isaac Zulu, Emory University
Leslie Clark, University of Southern California

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Abstract
Background: Most new HIV infections in Africa are acquired from cohabiting heterosexual partners. Couples' Voluntary Counselling and Testing (CVCT) is an effective prevention strategy for this group. We present our experience with a community-based program for the promotion of CVCT in Kigali, Rwanda and Lusaka, Zambia.

Methods: Influence Network Agents (INAs) from the health, religious, non-governmental, and private sectors were trained to invite couples for CVCT. Predictors of successful promotion were identified using a multi-level hierarchical analysis.

Results: In 4 months, 9,900 invitations were distributed by 61 INAs, with 1,411 (14.3%) couples requesting CVCT. INAs in Rwanda distributed fewer invitations (2,680 vs. 7,220) and had higher response rates (26.9% vs. 9.6%), than INAs in Zambia. Context of the invitation event, including a discreet location such as the INA's home (OR 3.3–3.4), delivery of the invitation to both partners in the couple (OR 1.6–1.7) or to someone known to the INA (OR 1.7–1.8), and use of public endorsement (OR 1.7–1.8) were stronger predictors of success than INA or couple-level characteristics.

Conclusion: Predictors of successful CVCT promotion included strategies that can be easily implemented in Africa. As new resources become available for Africans with HIV, CVCT should be broadly implemented as a point of entry for prevention, care and support.

Disciplines

Publication Date

2007

DOI

10.1186/1471-2458-7-349

Publisher Statement

© 2007 Allen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/349. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Citation Information

Shauntice Allen, Etienne Karita, Elwyn Chomba, David L. Roth, et al.. "Promotion of Couples' Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV through Influential Networks in Two African Capital Cities" BMC Public Health Vol. 7 (2007) p. 349 ISSN: 1471-2458
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joseph_telfair/12/