Plan and Pledge, HIV Self-testing in South Africa

This study will use a cluster randomized trial design to test the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase usage of self‐test and reporting of results by HIV self‐tests recipients. Specifically, this study will examine the use of commitment and planning prompts to increase the uptake of HIV self‐testing in the Tshwane district in South Africa. The intervention will build on the implementation procedures of STAR program (HIV Self‐Testing Africa). The two arms in the study will be: 1) Usual care, "Promote": A card with information to report results via WhatsApp, similar to the existing card used in the STAR program. with a dedicated Usual care WhatsApp number (different from the existing campaign numbers). 2) Plan and Pledge: A card with the information from the Usual Care card plus a brief template to "make a plan" and "make a pledge" for test completion and results reporting, to take the test. The card will include a dedicated Pledge and Plan WhatsApp number. Self‐test distribution team‐day pair will serve as the unit of randomization (i.e. two pairs of STAR field staff will be randomized by arm and by day. Clusters of individuals will receive self‐tests at a distribution site from a pair of STAR field staff on an individual day). Computer‐generated randomization will be used to assign site‐day clusters to the 2 study arms. The study will take place at the STAR community fixed‐point distribution sites in Tshwane District, South Africa.