Interventions to Improve HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence in Beira, Mozambique

The long-term goal is to understand the barriers that HIV patients in sub-Saharan Africa face in adhering to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and develop interventions to improve adherence that may be scaled up. Many people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa fail to adhere to ART, the medical treatment for HIV that can stop the virus from progressing to AIDS and also prevents transmission to others. This study seeks to identify the barriers to treatment adherence and develop interventions to improve adherence. We recruit patients who are newly diagnosed with HIV infection and prescribed ART from a large health center in Mozambique. For patients who meet the study qualifications, we randomly assign them to receive standard of care versus reminder phone calls, a monetary incentive or both. Other interventions aim to increase knowledge regarding HIV infection and decrease stigma. We track the medication possession ratio (MPR) after six months to evaluate the various interventions. To shed light on the spillovers of the interventions, we offer coupons for the participants to refer their partners to get tested. The experiment result will inform us of behavioral patterns of the population that are economically and physically vulnerable. Effective interventions are ready to be scaled up in HIV-treatment facilities in resource-constrained environments.