A pilot randomized trial of incentive strategies to promote HIV retesting in rural Uganda

Effectiveness of Using Additional HIV Self-Test Kits as an Incentive to Increase HIV Testing Within Assisted Partner Services

BACKGROUND

Incentives have shown mixed results in increasing HIV testing rates in low-resource settings. We investigated the effectiveness of offering additional self-tests (HIVSTs) as an incentive to increase testing among partners receiving assisted partner services (APS).

SETTING

Western Kenya.

METHODS

We conducted a single-crossover study nested within a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Twenty-four facilities were randomized 1:1 to (1) control: provider-delivered testing or (2) intervention: offered 1 HIVST or provider-delivered testing for 6 months (pre-implementation), then switched to offering 2 HIVSTs for 6 months (post-implementation). A difference-in-differences approach using generalized linear mixed models, accounting for facility clustering and adjusting for age, sex, and income, was used to estimate the effect of the incentive on HIV testing and first-time testing among partners in APS.

RESULTS

March 2021-June 2022, 1127 index clients received APS and named 8155 partners, among whom 2333 reported a prior HIV diagnosis and were excluded from analyses, resulting in 5822 remaining partners: 3646 (62.6%) and 2176 (37.4%) in the pre-implementation and post-implementation periods, respectively. Overall, 944/2176 partners (43%) were offered a second HIVST during post-preimplementation, of whom 34.3% picked up 2 kits, of whom 71.7% reported that the second kit encouraged HIV testing. Comparing partners offered 1 vs. two HIVSTs showed no difference in HIV testing (relative risk: 1.01, 95% confidence interval: 0.951 to 1.07) or HIV testing for the first time (relative risk: 1.23, 95% confidence interval: 0.671 to 2.24).

CONCLUSIONS

Offering a second HIVST as an incentive within APS did not significantly impact HIV testing or first-time testing, although those opting for 2 kits reported it incentivized them to test.

Applying behavioural economics principles to increase demand for free HIV testing services at private doctor-led clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa: A randomised controlled trial

Expanding free HIV testing service (HTS) access to include private clinics could increase testing rates. A donor funded programme, GP Care Cell, offered free HIV testing at selected private doctor-led clinics but uptake was low. We investigated whether HTS demand creation materials that used behavioural economics principles could increase demand for HIV testing at these clinics. We conducted a randomised controlled trial in Johannesburg, South Africa (January-April 2022) distributing brochures promoting HTS to adults in five private doctor-led clinic catchment areas. Individuals were randomised to receive three brochure types: (1) "Standard of care" (SOC) advertising a free HIV test and ART; (2) "Healthy lifestyle screening" promoted free low-cost health screenings in addition to HTS; and (3) "Recipient of care voucher" leveraged loss aversion and the endowment effect by highlighting the monetary value of free HTS. The primary outcome was presenting at the clinic following exposure to the brochures. Logistic regression compared outcomes between arms. We found that of the 12,129 brochures distributed, 658 were excluded because of errors or duplicates and 11,471 were analysed. About 59% of brochure recipients were male and 50,3% were aged 25-34 years. In total, 448 (3.9%) brochure recipients presented at the private doctor-led clinics of which 50.7% were males. There were no significant differences in clinic presentation between the healthy lifestyle screening and SOC arm (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.02; 95% CI 0.79-1.32), and similarly between the recipient of care voucher and SOC arm (AOR 1.08; 95% CI 0.84-1.39). Individuals were more likely to attend centrally-located clinics that had visible HTS branding (AOR = 5.30; 95% CI: 4.14-6.79). Brochures that used behavioural insights did not increase demand for HTS at private doctor-led clinics. However, consistent distribution of the brochures may have potential to increase HIV testing uptake at highly visible private doctor-led clinics.

Effectiveness of Behavioural Economics Informed Interventions for the Prevention, Screening, and Antiretroviral Treatment of HIV Infection: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Failure to meet international targets set for the human immunodeficiency virus HIV pandemic suggests that more effective public health strategies are needed. New strategies informed by behavioural economics are now increasingly being tested, with promising results. However, the evidence base is diverse and challenging for policymakers to interpret. This paper aims to synthesise existing evidence by reporting results from a systematic review of behavioural economics-based interventions for addressing HIV prevention, testing and treatment. The reported study was a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. The search was conducted in four electronic medical literature databases, six trial registries, four grey literature sources and was not restricted to any country or region. Bias was assessed using criteria outlined in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews; quality of evidence was assessed using GRADE methodology. Fifteen full text articles were included in the final analysis. The synthesis of these studies revealed that strategies involving opt-out defaults, active-choice defaults, and lottery incentives can potentially increase uptake of HIV testing. Lottery incentives also showed signs of effectiveness in improving HIV prevention, ART adherence and initiation. Despite the promising findings, the overall evidence was judged to be of moderate to very low quality. Behavioural economics-based interventions are promising behavioural change strategies, although more well-designed studies are needed to strengthen the evidence base.

Applying behavioural economics principles to increase demand for free HIV testing services at private doctor-led clinics in Johannesburg, South Africa: A randomised controlled trial

Background

Expanding free HIV testing service (HTS) access to include private clinics could increase testing rates. A donor funded programme, GP Care Cell, offered free HIV testing at selected private doctor-led clinics but uptake was low. We investigated whether HTS demand creation materials that used behavioural economics principles could increase demand for HIV testing at these clinics.

Methods

We conducted a randomised controlled trial in Johannesburg, South Africa (January-April 2022) distributing brochures promoting HTS to adults in five private doctor-led clinic catchment areas. Individuals were randomised to receive three brochure types: (1) "Standard of care" (SOC) advertising a free HIV test and ART; (2) "Healthy lifestyle screening" promoted free low-cost health screenings in addition to HTS; and (3) "Recipient of care voucher" leveraged loss aversion and the endowment effect by highlighting the monetary value of free HTS. The primary outcome was presenting at the clinic following exposure to the brochures. Logistic regression compared outcomes between arms.

Results

Of the 12,129 brochures distributed, 658 were excluded because of errors or duplicates and 11,471 were analysed. About 59% of brochure recipients were male and 50,3% were aged 25-34 years. In total, 448 (3.9%) brochure recipients presented at the private doctor-led clinics of which 50.7% were males. There were no significant differences in clinic presentation between the healthy lifestyle screening and SOC arm (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.02; 95% CI 0.79-1.32), and similarly between the recipient of care voucher and SOC arm (AOR 1.08; 95% CI 0.84-1.39). Individuals were more likely to attend clinics that were centrally located with visible branding for HTS (AOR=5.30; 95% CI: 4.14-6.79).

Conclusion

Brochures that used behavioural insights did not increase demand for HTS at private doctor-led clinics. However, consistent distribution of the brochures may have potential to increase HIV testing uptake at highly visible private doctor-led clinics.

Impact of family networks on uptake of health interventions: evidence from a community-randomized control trial aimed at increasing HIV testing in South Africa

INTRODUCTION

While it is widely acknowledged that family relationships can influence health outcomes, their impact on the uptake of individual health interventions is unclear. In this study, we quantified how the efficacy of a randomized health intervention is shaped by its pattern of distribution in the family network.

METHODS

The "Home-Based Intervention to Test and Start" (HITS) was a 2×2 factorial community-randomized controlled trial in Umkhanyakude, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, embedded in the Africa Health Research Institute's population-based demographic and HIV surveillance platform (ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT03757104). The study investigated the impact of two interventions: a financial micro-incentive and a male-targeted HIV-specific decision support programme. The surveillance area was divided into 45 community clusters. Individuals aged ≥15 years in 16 randomly selected communities were offered a micro-incentive (R50 [$3] food voucher) for rapid HIV testing (intervention arm). Those living in the remaining 29 communities were offered testing only (control arm). Study data were collected between February and November 2018. Using routinely collected data on parents, conjugal partners, and co-residents, a socio-centric family network was constructed among HITS-eligible individuals. Nodes in this network represent individuals and ties represent family relationships. We estimated the effect of offering the incentive to people with and without family members who also received the offer on the uptake of HIV testing. We fitted a linear probability model with robust standard errors, accounting for clustering at the community level.

RESULTS

Overall, 15,675 people participated in the HITS trial. Among those with no family members who received the offer, the incentive's efficacy was a 6.5 percentage point increase (95% CI: 5.3-7.7). The efficacy was higher among those with at least one family member who received the offer (21.1 percentage point increase (95% CI: 19.9-22.3). The difference in efficacy was statistically significant (21.1-6.5 = 14.6%; 95% CI: 9.3-19.9).

CONCLUSIONS

Micro-incentives appear to have synergistic effects when distributed within family networks. These effects support family network-based approaches for the design of health interventions.

Demand creation for HIV testing services: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

HIV testing services (HTS) are the first steps in reaching the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals to achieve and maintain low HIV incidence. Evaluating the effectiveness of different demand creation interventions to increase uptake of efficient and effective HTS is useful to prioritize limited programmatic resources. This review was undertaken to inform World Health Organization (WHO) 2019 HIV testing guidelines and assessed the research question, "Which demand creation strategies are effective for enhancing uptake of HTS?" focused on populations globally.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

The following electronic databases were searched through September 28, 2021: PubMed, PsycInfo, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL Complete, Web of Science Core Collection, EMBASE, and Global Health Database; we searched IAS and AIDS conferences. We systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared any demand creation intervention (incentives, mobilization, counseling, tailoring, and digital interventions) to either a control or other demand creation intervention and reported HTS uptake. We pooled trials to evaluate categories of demand creation interventions using random-effects models for meta-analysis and assessed study quality with Cochrane's risk of bias 1 tool. This study was funded by the WHO and registered in Prospero with ID CRD42022296947. We screened 10,583 records and 507 conference abstracts, reviewed 952 full texts, and included 124 RCTs for data extraction. The majority of studies were from the African (N = 53) and Americas (N = 54) regions. We found that mobilization (relative risk [RR]: 2.01, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.30, 3.09], p < 0.05; risk difference [RD]: 0.29, 95% CI [0.16, 0.43], p < 0.05, N = 4 RCTs), couple-oriented counseling (RR: 1.98, 95% CI [1.02, 3.86], p < 0.05; RD: 0.12, 95% CI [0.03, 0.21], p < 0.05, N = 4 RCTs), peer-led interventions (RR: 1.57, 95% CI [1.15, 2.15], p < 0.05; RD: 0.18, 95% CI [0.06, 0.31], p < 0.05, N = 10 RCTs), motivation-oriented counseling (RR: 1.53, 95% CI [1.07, 2.20], p < 0.05; RD: 0.17, 95% CI [0.00, 0.34], p < 0.05, N = 4 RCTs), short message service (SMS) (RR: 1.53, 95% CI [1.09, 2.16], p < 0.05; RD: 0.11, 95% CI [0.03, 0.19], p < 0.05, N = 5 RCTs), and conditional fixed value incentives (RR: 1.52, 95% CI [1.21, 1.91], p < 0.05; RD: 0.15, 95% CI [0.07, 0.22], p < 0.05, N = 11 RCTs) all significantly and importantly (≥50% relative increase) increased HTS uptake and had medium risk of bias. Lottery-based incentives and audio-based interventions less importantly (25% to 49% increase) but not significantly increased HTS uptake (medium risk of bias). Personal invitation letters and personalized message content significantly but not importantly (<25% increase) increased HTS uptake (medium risk of bias). Reduced duration counseling had comparable performance to standard duration counseling (low risk of bias) and video-based interventions were comparable or better than in-person counseling (medium risk of bias). Heterogeneity of effect among pooled studies was high. This study was limited in that we restricted to randomized trials, which may be systematically less readily available for key populations; additionally, we compare only pooled estimates for interventions with multiple studies rather than single study estimates, and there was evidence of publication bias for several interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

Mobilization, couple- and motivation-oriented counseling, peer-led interventions, conditional fixed value incentives, and SMS are high-impact demand creation interventions and should be prioritized for programmatic consideration. Reduced duration counseling and video-based interventions are an efficient and effective alternative to address staffing shortages. Investment in demand creation activities should prioritize those with undiagnosed HIV or ongoing HIV exposure. Selection of demand creation interventions must consider risks and benefits, context-specific factors, feasibility and sustainability, country ownership, and universal health coverage across disease areas.

Applying Behavioural Insights to HIV Prevention and Management: a Scoping Review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This scoping review summarises the literature on HIV prevention and management interventions utilizing behavioural economic principles encapsulated in the MINDSPACE framework.

RECENT FINDINGS

MINDSPACE is an acronym developed by the UK's behavioural insights team to summarise nine key influences on human behaviour: Messenger, Incentives, Norms, Default, Salience, Priming, Affect, Commitment, and Ego. These effects have been used in various settings to design interventions that encourage positive behaviours. Currently, over 200 institutionalised behavioural insight teams exist internationally, which may draw upon the MINDSPACE framework to inform policy and improve public services. To date, it is not clear how behavioural insights have been applied to HIV prevention and management interventions. After screening 899 studies for eligibility, 124 were included in the final review. We identified examples of interventions that utilised all the MINDSPACE effects in a variety of settings and among various populations. Studies from high-income countries were most common (n = 54) and incentives were the most frequently applied effect (n = 100). The MINDSPACE framework is a useful tool to consider how behavioural science principles can be applied in future HIV prevention and management interventions. Creating nudges to enhance the design of HIV prevention and management interventions can help people make better choices as we strive to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030.

Promised and Lottery Airtime Incentives to Improve Interactive Voice Response Survey Participation Among Adults in Bangladesh and Uganda: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

Increased mobile phone penetration allows the interviewing of respondents using interactive voice response surveys in low- and middle-income countries. However, there has been little investigation of the best type of incentive to obtain data from a representative sample in these countries.

Objective

We assessed the effect of different airtime incentives options on cooperation and response rates of an interactive voice response survey in Bangladesh and Uganda.

Methods

The open-label randomized controlled trial had three arms: (1) no incentive (control), (2) promised airtime incentive of 50 Bangladeshi Taka (US $0.60; 1 BDT is approximately equivalent to US $0.012) or 5000 Ugandan Shilling (US $1.35; 1 UGX is approximately equivalent to US $0.00028), and (3) lottery incentive (500 BDT and 100,000 UGX), in which the odds of winning were 1:20. Fully automated random-digit dialing was used to sample eligible participants aged ≥18 years. The risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals for primary outcomes of response and cooperation rates were obtained using log-binomial regression.

Results

Between June 14 and July 14, 2017, a total of 546,746 phone calls were made in Bangladesh, with 1165 complete interviews being conducted. Between March 26 and April 22, 2017, a total of 178,572 phone calls were made in Uganda, with 1248 complete interviews being conducted. Cooperation rates were significantly higher for the promised incentive (Bangladesh: 39.3%; RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.24-1.55, P<.001; Uganda: 59.9%; RR 1.47, 95% CI 1.33-1.62, P<.001) and the lottery incentive arms (Bangladesh: 36.6%; RR 1.28, 95% CI 1.15-1.45, P<.001; Uganda: 54.6%; RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.21-1.48, P<.001) than those for the control arm (Bangladesh: 28.4%; Uganda: 40.9%). Similarly, response rates were significantly higher for the promised incentive (Bangladesh: 26.5%%; RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.39, P<.001; Uganda: 41.2%; RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.16-1.39, P<.001) and lottery incentive arms (Bangladesh: 24.5%%; RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.29, P=.002; Uganda: 37.9%%; RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.29, P=.001) than those for the control arm (Bangladesh: 21.0%; Uganda: 32.4%).

Conclusions

Promised or lottery airtime incentives improved survey participation and facilitated a large sample within a short period in 2 countries.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03773146; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03773146

Financial Incentives, Not Behavioral Nudges, Led to Optimized HIV Testing among Pregnant Women in a High-Burden Urban Population in Ecuador

Behavioral economic principles are increasingly being used in the fight against HIV, including improving voluntary testing in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. However, behavioral nudges have not been widely tested as a strategy to optimize HIV testing in pregnant women. Here, we assessed whether behavioral nudges or financial incentives were effective in optimizing HIV testing among pregnant women in a high-HIV burden setting. A randomized clinical trial was conducted between May 21 and Oct 5, 2018, to allocate pregnant women in Ecuador into three study arms: information only, soft commitment (i.e., a behavioral nudge), and financial incentives. All participants received an informational flyer, including the address of a testing location. Participants in the soft-commitment arm signed and kept a form on which they committed to get tested for HIV. Those in the financial incentive arm received a $10 incentive when tested for HIV. A stepwise logistic regression analysis estimated the effect of the study arms on HIV testing rate. Participants in the financial-incentive arm had higher odds of getting an HIV test (adjusted odds ratio 17.06, P < 0.001) as compared with information-only participants. Soft-commitment had the opposite effect (adjusted odds ratio 0.14, P = 0.014). Financial incentives might be useful in improving HIV testing among pregnant women, especially among those who might be at higher risk but who have not completed an HIV test.

Financial Incentives for Pediatric HIV Testing (FIT): Caregiver Insights on Incentive Mechanisms, Focus Populations, and Acceptability for Programmatic Scale Up

Children living with HIV experience gaps in HIV testing globally; scaling up evidence-based testing strategies is critical for preventing HIV-related mortality. Financial incentives (FI) were recently demonstrated to increase uptake of pediatric HIV testing. As part of this qualitative follow-up study to the FIT trial (NCT03049917) conducted in Kenya, 54 caregivers participated in individual interviews. Interview transcripts were analyzed to identify considerations for scaling up FI for pediatric testing. Caregivers reported that FI function by directly offsetting costs or nudging caregivers to take action sooner. Caregivers found FI to be feasible and acceptable for broader programmatic implementation, and supported use for a variety of populations. Some concerns were raised about unintended consequences of FI, including caregivers bringing ineligible children to collect incentives and fears about the impact on linkage to care and retention if caregivers become dependent on FI.

Financial incentives and deposit contracts to promote HIV retesting in Uganda: A randomized trial

BACKGROUND

Frequent retesting for HIV among persons at increased risk of HIV infection is critical to early HIV diagnosis of persons and delivery of combination HIV prevention services. There are few evidence-based interventions for promoting frequent retesting for HIV. We sought to determine the effectiveness of financial incentives and deposit contracts in promoting quarterly HIV retesting among adults at increased risk of HIV.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

In peri-urban Ugandan communities from October to December 2018, we randomized HIV-negative adults with self-reported risk to 1 of 3 strategies to promote HIV retesting: (1) no incentive; (2) cash incentives (US$7) for retesting at 3 and 6 months (total US$14); or (3) deposit contracts: participants could voluntarily deposit US$6 at baseline and at 3 months that would be returned with interest (total US$7) upon retesting at 3 and 6 months (total US$14) or lost if participants failed to retest. The primary outcome was retesting for HIV at both 3 and 6 months. Of 1,482 persons screened for study eligibility following community-based recruitment, 524 participants were randomized to either no incentive (N = 180), incentives (N = 172), or deposit contracts (N = 172): median age was 25 years (IQR: 22 to 30), 44% were women, and median weekly income was US$13.60 (IQR: US$8.16 to US$21.76). Among participants randomized to deposit contracts, 24/172 (14%) made a baseline deposit, and 2/172 (1%) made a 3-month deposit. In intent-to-treat analyses, HIV retesting at both 3 and 6 months was significantly higher in the incentive arm (89/172 [52%]) than either the control arm (33/180 [18%], odds ratio (OR) 4.8, 95% CI: 3.0 to 7.7, p < 0.001) or the deposit contract arm (28/172 [16%], OR 5.5, 95% CI: 3.3 to 9.1, p < 0.001). Among those in the deposit contract arm who made a baseline deposit, 20/24 (83%) retested at 3 months; 11/24 (46%) retested at both 3 and 6 months. Among 282 participants who retested for HIV during the trial, three (1%; 95%CI: 0.2 to 3%) seroconverted: one in the incentive group and two in the control group. Study limitations include measurement of retesting at the clinic where baseline enrollment occurred, only offering clinic-based (rather than community-based) HIV retesting and lack of measurement of retesting after completion of the trial to evaluate sustained retesting behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

Offering financial incentives to high-risk adults in Uganda resulted in significantly higher HIV retesting. Deposit contracts had low uptake and overall did not increase retesting. As part of efforts to increase early diagnosis of HIV among high-risk populations, strategic use of incentives to promote retesting should receive greater consideration by HIV programs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02890459.

Controlling COVID-19 Outbreaks with Financial Incentives

In this paper, we consider controlling coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks with financial incentives. We use the recently developed susceptible-unidentified infected-confirmed (SUC) epidemic model. The unidentified infected population is defined as the infected people who are not yet identified and isolated and can spread the disease to susceptible individuals. It is important to quickly identify and isolate infected people among the unidentified infected population to prevent the infectious disease from spreading. Considering financial incentives as a strategy to control the spread of disease, we predict the effect of the strategy through a mathematical model. Although incentive costs are required, the duration of the disease can be shortened. First, we estimate the unidentified infected cases of COVID-19 in South Korea using the SUC model, and compute two parameters such as the disease transmission rate and the inverse of the average time for confirming infected individuals. We assume that when financial incentives are provided, there are changes in the proportion of confirmed patients out of unidentified infected people in the SUC model. We evaluate the numbers of confirmed and unidentified infected cases with respect to one parameter while fixing the other estimated parameters. We investigate the effect of the incentives on the termination time of the spread of the disease. The larger the incentive budget is, the faster the epidemic will end. Therefore, financial incentives can have the advantage of reducing the total cost required to prevent the spread of the disease, treat confirmed patients, and recover overall economic losses.