Importance: Self-testing for HIV infection may contribute to early diagnosis of HIV, but without necessarily increasing antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation.
Objective: To investigate whether offering optional home initiation of HIV care after HIV self-testing might increase demand for ART initiation, compared with HIV self-testing accompanied by facility-based services only.
Design, setting, and participants: Cluster randomized trial conducted in Blantyre, Malawi, between January 30 and November 5, 2012, using restricted 1:1 randomization of 14 community health worker catchment areas. Participants were all adult (≥16 years) residents (n = 16,660) who received access to home HIV self-testing through resident volunteers. This was a second-stage randomization of clusters allocated to the HIV self-testing group of a parent trial.
Interventions: Clusters were randomly allocated to facility-based care or optional home initiation of HIV care (including 2 weeks of ART if eligible) for participants reporting positive HIV self-test results.
Main outcomes and measures: The preplanned primary outcome compared between groups the proportion of all adult residents who initiated ART within the first 6 months of HIV self-testing availability. Secondary outcomes were uptake of HIV self-testing, reporting of positive HIV self-test results, and rates of loss from ART at 6 months.
Results: A significantly greater proportion of adults in the home group initiated ART (181/8194, 2.2%) compared with the facility group (63/8466, 0.7%; risk ratio [RR], 2.94, 95% CI, 2.10-4.12; P < .001). Uptake of HIV self-testing was high in both the home (5287/8194, 64.9%) and facility groups (4433/8466, 52.7%; RR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.96-1.58; P = .10). Significantly more adults reported positive HIV self-test results in the home group (490/8194 [6.0%] vs the facility group, 278/8466 [3.3%]; RR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.16-2.97; P = .006). After 6 months, 52 of 181 ART initiators (28.7%) and 15 of 63 ART initiators (23.8%) in the home and facility groups, respectively, were lost from ART (adjusted incidence rate ratio, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.62-2.25, P = .57).
Conclusions and relevance: Among Malawian adults offered HIV self-testing, optional home initiation of care compared with standard HIV care resulted in a significant increase in the proportion of adults initiating ART.
Trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01414413.