Syphilis Self Testing Study
About Syphilis Self-Test Study
Syphilis self-testing was a pilot study in Zimbabwe designed to expand test uptake among men who have sex with men (MSM) by evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a community-based self-testing intervention, which included a self-test kit with simplified pictorial instructions, in increasing syphilis diagnosis and treatment, while also assessing its impact on sexual behaviours, social outcomes, self-test usability, and HIV testing uptake.
Design
Single Blind Prospective Pilot Study and the goal was to collect initial data on the feasibility of implementing Syphilis self-testing to inform the design of a large scale-RCT of this approach. This was conducted in two stages. Stage1: Formative work which assessed the surveys on the experience of self-testing amongst MSM and FSW on Zimbabwe. The survey instrument was used to gather which informed the data collection tools which were used in the RCT. Stage 2: This was the pilot study. 100 MSM and 60 FSW in Harare were recruited to join the pilot program. This setting was an active MSM and FSW community that had been successfully engaged in previous HIV self-testing research. Prior to initiating this study, the local research team attended a training to review the full study protocol, qualitative data collection methods and best practices, data management, and analysis methods required for the research.
Study Objectives
Pilot a comprehensive HIV/syphilis self-testing intervention among 100 MSM over a period of six months. Measure acceptability and feasibility of using syphilis self-testing kits. Determine optimal methods for distributing self-test kits. Identify clinical sites in the city for the facility- testing and linkage to care. Estimate the sample size for a future trial. Estimate the cost of intervention delivery and inform our future trial.
Study Duration and Sites
The study was for six months from March to August 2020. It was conducted in Harare.
Study Outcomes
MSM in Zimbabwe were willing to use syphilis self-test kits and many of the barriers and facilitators were similar to those observed for HIVST. Syphilis self-testing may increase syphilis test uptake among sexual minorities in Zimbabwe and other low-income and middle-income countries.
