Trial reportThe lancet. HIV2021
The effect of providing women sustained access to HIV self-tests on male partner testing, couples testing, and HIV incidence in Kenya: a cluster-randomised trial.
Trial report in The lancet. HIV, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Secondary Distribution of HIV Self-tests: an Innovative Strategy for Promoting Partner Testing and Reducing HIV Risk
Reaching the Last 20%: a Targeted HIV Self-test Secondary Distribution Intervention to Engage High-risk Men in Kenya
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social Network-Based Strategies for HIV Testing Among Women: A Systematic Review.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- HIV incidence among women engaging in sex work in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Global health · 2024Pooled it
- Social network strategies to distribute HIV self-testing kits: a global systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2024Pooled it
- Quantitative Methods Used to Evaluate Impact of Combination HIV Prevention Intervention: A Methodological Systematic Review.AIDS and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of interventions to promote couples-based HIV testing and family health during pregnancy and postpartum in Kenya: a multicentre, couples-based, randomised controlled trial.The lancet. HIV · 2026Trial
- Provision of COVID-19 Self-Test Kits to Patients for Distribution to Social Contacts: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- The effect of a social network-based intervention on adherence to HIV preexposure prophylaxis and HIV viral suppression among Kenyan fishermen.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Trial
- The effect of a social network-based intervention to promote HIV testing and linkage to HIV services among fishermen in Kenya: a cluster-randomised trial.The Lancet. Global health · 2025Trial
- 'When I have these kits … I have confidence' - HIV self-testing provides agency for women in their sexual decision-making.Global public health · 2022Trial
- Adoption of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among women at high risk of HIV infection in Kenya.PloS one · 2022Trial
- Cost and cost-effectiveness of online recruitment to increase HIV self-testing among Black and Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men in the United States, 2020-2021.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2025Article
- THE EFFECT OF PARTNER DELIVERY OF HIV SELF-TEST KITS ON HIV TESTING AND LINKAGE TO CARE IN PUBLIC CLINICS IN KENYA.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2025Article
- Decentralized HIV testing: comparing peer and mail-based distribution strategies to improve the reach of HIV self-testing among people who use drugs in Florida.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Health, harm reduction, and social service providers' perspectives on the appropriateness and feasibility of peer distribution of HIV self-test kits among people who use drugs.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Willingness to use and distribute HIV self-testing kits among people who inject drugs in the San Diego-Tijuana border region.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Uptake and Acceptability of HIV Self-Testing Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women and Their Male Partners in Sub-Saharan Africa: Benefits, Challenges, and Delivery Strategies.HIV/AIDS (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Online distribution of HIV self-testing kits to promote HIV testing among men who have sex with men discontinuing pre-exposure prophylaxis after demonstration project completion in China: a multicentre open-label randomized controlled trial.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- HIV incidence among women engaging in sex work in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023Article
- Trends in Transactional Sex Among Women at Risk for HIV in Rural Kenya During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.JAMA network open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHIV self-testing can overcome barriers to HIV testing, but its potential as an HIV prevention strategy for women in sub-Saharan Africa has not been assessed. We examined whether sustained provision of self-tests to women promotes testing among sexual partners and reduces HIV incidence.
methodsWe conducted a pair-matched cluster-randomised trial in 66 community clusters in Siaya County, Kenya. Clusters were communities with a high prevalence of transactional sex, including beach communities along Lake Victoria and inland communities with hotspots for transactional sex such as bars and hotels. Within clusters, we recruited HIV-negative women aged 18 years or older with two or more sexual partners within the past 4 weeks. In each of the 33 cluster pairs, we randomly assigned clusters to an intervention and comparison group. In intervention clusters, we provided participants with multiple self-tests at regular intervals and encouraged secondary distribution of self-tests to sexual partners. In comparison clusters, we provided participants referral cards for facility-based testing. Follow-up visits and HIV testing occurred at 6-month intervals for up to 24 months. The primary outcome of HIV incidence among all participants who contributed at least one HIV test was analysed using discrete-time mixed effects models. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03135067.
findingsBetween June 4, 2017, and Aug 31, 2018, we enrolled 2090 participants (1033 in the 33 intervention clusters and 1057 in the 33 comparison clusters). Participants' median age was 25 years (IQR 22-31) and 1390 (66·6%) of 2086 participants reported sex work as an income source. 1840 participants completed the 18-month follow-up and 570 participants completed the 24-month follow up, which ended on March 25, 2020, with a median follow-up duration of 17·6 months. HIV incidence was not significantly different between the intervention and comparison groups (1·2 vs 1·0 per 100 person-years; hazard ratio 1·2, 95% CI 0·6-2·3, p=0·64). Social harms related to study participation occurred in three participants (two in the intervention group and one in the comparison group).
interpretationSustained provision of multiple self-tests to women at high risk of HIV infection in Kenya enabled secondary distribution of self-tests to sexual partners but did not affect HIV incidence.
fundingNational Institute of Mental Health; Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics; National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases; University of Pennsylvania Center for AIDS Research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.