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Background HIV incidence among South African adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) remains high, but could be reduced by highly effective pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Unfortunately, AGYW report significant barriers to clinic-based sexual and reproductive health services. Even when AGYW access PrEP as an HIV prevention method, poor prevention-effective use was a serious barrier to achieving its optimal HIV prevention benefits. Determining the acceptability and feasibility of community-based platforms to increase AGYW’s access to PrEP, and evaluating behavioural interventions to improve prevention-effective use of PrEP are needed. Methods We propose a mixed-methods study among AGYW aged 16–25 years in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. In the first component, a cross-sectional study will assess the acceptability and feasibility of leveraging community-based HIV counselling and testing (CBCT) platforms to refer HIV-negative, at-risk AGYW to non-clinic-based, same-day PrEP initiation services. In the second component, we will enrol 480 AGYW initiating PrEP via our CBCT platforms into a three-armed (1:1:1) randomized control trial (RCT) that will evaluate the effectiveness of adherence support interventions to improve the prevention-effective use of PrEP. Adherence will be measured over 24 months via tenofovir-diphosphate blood concentration levels. Qualitative investigations will explore participant, staff, and community experiences associated with community-based PrEP services, adherence support activities, study implementation, and community awareness. Costs and scalability of service platforms and interventions will be evaluated. Discussion This will be the first study to assess the acceptability and feasibility of leveraging CBCT platforms to identify and refer at-risk AGYW to community-based, same-day PrEP initiation services. It will also provide quantitative and qualitative results to inform adherence support activities and services that promote the prevention-effective use of PrEP among AGYW. By applying principles of implementation science, behavioural science, and health economics research, we aim to inform strategies to improve access to and prevention-effective use of PrEP by AGYW. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govNCT03977181. Registered on 6 June 2019—retrospectively registered.

Introduction Unhealthy alcohol use (UAU) is a major public health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Mozambique is the fourth poorest country in the world where half of the population lives below the poverty line. UAU is frequent among drinkers in Mozambique; however, resources and infrastructure to treat UAU are very limited. This paper examines how task-shifting and a provider-facing mobile health application are being used to improve access to care. In this paper, the feasibility, acceptability and appropriateness of a provider-facing mobile health application being used under a task-shifting model to identify UAU and provide a four-session brief motivational interviewing intervention are described. Method The study used a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design with a QUAL → quan structure. First, 15 psychiatric technicians and primary care providers in Mozambique's Nampula Province participated in semi-structured interviews. These interviews were recorded and transcribed. Then, 45 providers completed a 12-item quantitative survey on tablets. Quantitative analysis used descriptive statistic calculation and qualitative analysis used thematic analysis. Results Nonspecialized providers found the mobile health app to be acceptable, appropriate, and feasible when delivering a 4-session brief motivational intervention under a task-shifting model. Central benefits of the technology were enhanced standardization and efficiency of sessions as well as feelings of legitimacy when interacting with patients. Main concerns were feasibility of implementing the intervention due to time constraints of workload and internet connectivity issues. Conclusions Provider-facing technology shows promise in supporting task-shifting models that can expand alcohol intervention services and increase access to care in low- and middle-income countries. Providers without specialized training in behavioral health interventions can provide critical services to patients with UAU and provider-facing mobile health applications may help bring such models to scale.

BackgroundMultisectoral approaches are thought necessary to prevent HIV among adolescents. We examined whether an economic strengthening (ES) and an HIV-prevention education intervention improved outcomes when combined versus separately.MethodsWe conducted a full-factorial randomised controlled study to randomise participants into all possible intervention groups based on the two interventions: economic strengthening only (ES-only), HIV-prevention only (HIV-only), both interventions combined (ES+HIV) and no intervention (control). We measured sexually transmitted infections (STIs), self-reported economic and sexual behaviours/knowledge, and pregnancy at a pre-intervention and two post-intervention assessments. Eligible participants were adolescents 14 to 17 years old from a programme supporting vulnerable families in Gauteng Province, South Africa. We estimated intervention effects using repeated measures, generalised linear mixed models.ResultsA total of 1773 adolescents participated (57% female). ES+HIV adolescents had the lowest STI prevalence at first endline; however, the comparison with the control was not significant (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.27 to 1.41). ES-only or HIV-only groups were not significantly better than the control on STI prevalence (OR 1.53, 95% CI 0.73 to 3.20 and OR 1.47, 95% CI 0.69 to 3.12, respectively). STI prevalence became more similar among the groups at second endline.ES-only adolescents were more likely to participate in savings groups (p=0.004) and plan to save for education (p=0.001) versus the control. ES+HIV adolescents were more likely to plan to save for education versus the control (p=0.001) and HIV-only groups (p=0.002) but did not differ significantly from the ES-only group (p=0.803). The ES+HIV intervention’s effect on HIV knowledge was significant compared with the control (p=0.03) and ES-only groups (pConclusionsWe could not confirm the ES and HIV interventions, separately or combined, were effective to reduce STI prevalence. Evaluations of multicomponent interventions should use full-factorial designs to fully assess effects.Trial registration numberNCT02888678