Uptake, accuracy, safety and linkage into care over two years of promoting annual self-testing for HIV in Blantyre, Malawi: a community-based prospective study

Choko, A, Webb, E and Corbett, L. 2015. Uptake, accuracy, safety and linkage into care over two years of promoting annual self-testing for HIV in Blantyre, Malawi: a community-based prospective study. [Online]. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. Available from: https://doi.org/10.17037/DATA.7.

Choko, A, Webb, E and Corbett, L. Uptake, accuracy, safety and linkage into care over two years of promoting annual self-testing for HIV in Blantyre, Malawi: a community-based prospective study [Internet]. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; 2015. Available from: https://doi.org/10.17037/DATA.7.

Choko, A, Webb, E and Corbett, L (2015). Uptake, accuracy, safety and linkage into care over two years of promoting annual self-testing for HIV in Blantyre, Malawi: a community-based prospective study. [Data Collection]. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.17037/DATA.7.

Description

A set of anonymised datasets produced in a community-based study to investigate self-testing for HIV in Blantyre, Malawi. Taken together the datasets enable replication of findings from the study including estimation of uptake of HIV self-testing (HIVST), analysis of sensitivity/specificity of self-reported self-test results compared to nurse-performed finger prick testing, and investigation of self-reported coercion to self-test.

Methods

Description of data capture

HIVST was made available to 14 neighbourhoods of ~1,200 adult residents each, two of whom were responsible for implementation of recruitment between February 2012 and April 2014. In general, paper-based data collection followed by electronic processing using optical mark reading software (OMR) with Microsoft Access database was used for all data collection tools. A register of all neighbourhood residents who requested (were given) an HIVST kit was kept by the volunteer neighbourhood counsellor. These data were later extracted and electronically processed and gave rise to the HIVST uptake dataset. For the quality assurance dataset, a systematic sample of HIVST participants was selected for home-visit by study nurses aiming for minimum 5% coverage. Checks included age, confirmation of residency, whether or not HIVST kits had been used, and self-read result with offer of confirmatory testing (finger-prick blood parallel testing with Determine 1/2, Alere, Waltham, USA and Uni-Gold Recombigen HIV, Trinity Biotech, Bray, Ireland). A self-completed questionnaire (SCQ) was given to all participants at the time a HIVST kit was given. The participant was requested to return both the SCQ and the used kit, and to drop them in a sealed ballot box. A self-reported self-test result was then recorded by the participant along with acceptability indicators and whether or not they had been forced to self-test. The returned used kit and the SCQ were sent to the laboratory where technicians re-read all used kits and recorded the result on the SCQ.

Data capture method

Questionnaire: Fixed form - Paper

Data Collection Period

From	To
February 2012	April 2014

Date (Date submitted to LSHTM repository)

23 July 2015

Geographical area covered (offline during plugin upgrade)

North Latitude	East Longitude	South Latitude	West Longitude
-15.772	35.0483	-15.7941	34.9909

Language(s) of written materials

English

People & Groups

Data Creators	Choko, A, Webb, E and Corbett, L
LSHTM Faculty/Department	Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health > Dept of Infectious Disease Epidemiology Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases > Dept of Clinical Research
Participating Institutions	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool, Warwick Medical School, Malawi Ministry of Health, Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Projects

Funders

Project	Funder	Grant Number	Funder URI
Intensified HIV/TB prevention linking home-based HIV testing, including the option of self-testing, with HIV care: a cluster-randomised trial in Blantyre, Malawi	Wellcome Trust	WT091769	UNSPECIFIED