Background HIV testing male partners of pregnant women may decrease HIV transmission to women and promote uptake of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) interventions. However, it has been difficult to access male partners in antenatal care (ANC) clinics. We hypothesized that home visits to offer HIV testing to partners of women attending ANC would increase partner HIV testing. Methods Women attending their first ANC were enrolled, interviewed using smartphone audio-computer assisted self-interviews and randomized to home visits or written invitations for male partners to come to clinic, if they were married or cohabiting, unaccompanied by partners and had no prior couple HIV counseling and testing (CHCT). Enrolled men were offered CHCT (HIV testing and mutual disclosure). Prevalence of CHCT, male HIV seropositivity, couple serodiscordance, and intimate partner violence, reported as physical threat from partner, were compared at 6 weeks. Results Among 495 women screened, 312 were eligible, and 300 randomized to clinic-based or home-based CHCT. Median age was 22 years (interquartile range 20, 26), and 87% were monogamous. CHCT was significantly higher in home-visit than clinic-invitation arm (n=128, 85% vs n=54, 36%; p<0.001). Home-arm identified more HIV-seropositive men (12.0 % vs 8.0 %; p= 0.248) and more HIV-discordant couples (14.7% vs 4.7%; p=0.003). There was no difference in intimate partner violence. Conclusion Home visits of pregnant women were safe and resulted in more male partner testing and mutual disclosure of HIV status. This strategy could facilitate prevention of maternal HIV acquisition, improve PMTCT uptake, and increase male HIV diagnosis.

Introduction:Male partner HIV testing has been recognized as an important component of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission. Scheduled home-based couple HIV testing may be an effective strategy to reach men.Methods:Women attending their first antenatal visit at Kisumu County Hospital in Kenya were randomized to home-based education and HIV testing within 2 weeks of enrollment (HOPE) or to written invitations for male partners to attend clinic (INVITE). Male partner HIV testing and maternal child health outcomes were compared at 6 months postpartum.Results:Of 1101 women screened, 620 were eligible and 601 were randomized to HOPE (n = 306) or INVITE (n = 295). At 6 months postpartum, male partners were more than twice as likely [relative risk (RR) = 2.10; 95% CI (CI): 1.81 to 2.42] to have been HIV tested in the HOPE arm [233 (87%)] compared with the INVITE arm [108 (39%)]. Couples in the HOPE arm [192 (77%)] were 3 times as likely (RR = 3.17; 95% CI: 2.53 to 3.98) to have been tested as a couple as the INVITE arm [62 (24%)] and women in the HOPE arm [217 (88%)] were also twice as likely (RR = 2.27; 95% CI: 1.93 to 2.67) to know their partner's HIV status as the INVITE arm [98 (39%)]. More serodiscordant couples were identified in the HOPE arm [33 (13%)] than in the INVITE arm [10 (4%)] (RR = 3.38; 95% CI: 1.70 to 6.71). Maternal child health outcomes of facility delivery, postpartum family planning, and exclusive breastfeeding did not vary by arm.Conclusions:Home-based HIV testing for pregnant couples resulted in higher uptake of male partner and couple testing, as well as higher rates of HIV status disclosure and identification of serodiscordant couples. However, the intervention did not result in higher uptake of maternal child health outcomes, because facility delivery and postpartum family planning were high in both arms, whereas exclusive breastfeeding was low. The HOPE intervention was successful at its primary aim to increase HIV testing and disclosure among pregnant couples and was able to find more serodiscordant couples compared with the invitation-only strategy.Trial Registration:Clinicaltrials.gov registry: NCT01784783.

BackgroundMale partner HIV testing and counseling (HTC) is associated with enhanced uptake of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), yet male HTC during pregnancy remains low. Identifying settings preferred by pregnant women and their male partners may improve male involvement in PMTCT.MethodsParticipants in a randomized clinical trial (NCT01620073) to improve male partner HTC were interviewed to determine whether the preferred male partner HTC setting was the home, antenatal care (ANC) clinic or VCT center. In this nested cross sectional study, responses were evaluated at baseline and after 6 weeks. Differences between the two time points were compared using McNemar’s test and correlates of preference were determined using logistic regression.ResultsAmong 300 pregnant female participants, 54 % preferred home over ANC clinic testing (34.0 %) or VCT center (12.0 %). Among 188 male partners, 68 % preferred home-based HTC to antenatal clinic (19 %) or VCT (13 %). Men who desired more children and women who had less than secondary education or daily income < $2 USD were more likely to prefer home-based over other settings (p < 0.05 for all comparisons). At 6 weeks, the majority of male (81 %) and female (65 %) participants recommended home over alternative HTC venues. Adjusting for whether or not the partner was tested during follow-up did not significantly alter preferences.ConclusionsPregnant women and their male partners preferred home-based compared to clinic or VCT-center based male partner HTC. Home-based HTC during pregnancy appears acceptable and may improve male testing and involvement in PMTCT.

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