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Implementing Community Engagement for Combination Prevention: Lessons Learnt From the First Year of the HPTN 071 (PopART) Community-Randomized Study

  • The Global Epidemic (S.H. Vermund, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Key to the success of a HIV combination prevention strategy, including galvanizing the current push to roll out universal test and treat (UTT), is the involvement and buy-in of the populations that the strategy aims to reach. Drawing on the experiences of engaging with 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa in the design and implementation of a community-randomized study of combination HIV prevention including UTT, this paper reflects on the commitment to, approaches for and benefits of involving communities. Key lessons learnt include that all communities require continuous community engagement (CE) and engagement needs to be adapted to diverse local contexts. Intrinsic goals of CE, such as building trusting relationships between study stakeholders, are necessary precursors to instrumental goals which strengthen the research quality. Engaging the community for combination prevention requires that CE successfully bridges science and real life, paying attention to influences in the wider social landscape.

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Acknowledgments

HPTN 071 (PopART) is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Cooperative Agreements # UM1 AI068619, UM1-AI068617, and UM1-AI068613 and is funded by The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as NIAID, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), all part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zambart, School of Medicine, Ridgeway Campus, P.O. Box 50697, 10101, Lusaka, Zambia

    Musonda Simwinga, Virginia Bond, Steve Belemu & Kwame Shanaube

  2. Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University (DTTC) Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

    Nozizwe Makola & Graeme Hoddinott

  3. Department of Global Health and Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK

    Virginia Bond & Janet Seeley

  4. FHI360, Durham, NC, USA

    Rhonda White & Ayana Moore

  5. MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS, Entebbe, Uganda

    Janet Seeley

Authors
  1. Musonda Simwinga
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  2. Virginia Bond
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  3. Nozizwe Makola
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  4. Graeme Hoddinott
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  5. Steve Belemu
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  6. Rhonda White
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  7. Kwame Shanaube
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  8. Janet Seeley
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  9. Ayana Moore
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on behalf of the HPTN 071 (PopART) study team

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Musonda Simwinga.

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Sources of Funding

HPTN 071 (PopART) is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Cooperative Agreements # UM1 AI068619, UM1-AI068617, and UM1-AI068613 and is funded by The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as NIAID, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), all part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Conflict of Interest

Musonda Simwinga, Virginia Bond, Nozizwe Makola, Graeme Hoddinott, Steve Belemu, Rhonda White, Kwame Shanaube, Janet Seeley and Ayana Moore declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on The Global Epidemic

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Simwinga, M., Bond, V., Makola, N. et al. Implementing Community Engagement for Combination Prevention: Lessons Learnt From the First Year of the HPTN 071 (PopART) Community-Randomized Study. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep 13, 194–201 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-016-0322-z

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