Manicaland VMMC Uptake Through Behavioural Incentives Trial

Summary

Primary Objective The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of an interactive VMMC education session offered by a circumcised health worker and contribution to transport costs for accessing VMMC along with either (1) conditional economic compensation for wages or (2) lottery-based economic incentives on the uptake of VMMC.

Hypothesis VMMC education session offered by a role model - a young male health worker who has been previously benefited from VMMC services in this community - addressing risks of HIV infection, benefits of VMMC, and the fear of pain associated with VMMC, with/without a conditional fixed or lottery-based financial incentives off-setting present-biased preferences, will improve risk perception and increase uptake of VMMC in HIV-negative young men.

Study outcomes The primary outcomes for the study will be risk perception measured in a follow-up survey at 6 months and proportion of men taking up VMMC within 6 months measured through self-reports and matched to program records.

Conditions

• HIV/AIDS

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Education session with fixed incentive

All participants will receive an education session on the risk of HIV infection and benefits from medical male circumcision. The sessions will be implemented by trained male healthcare workers who have undergone VMMC. All participants will receive contributions towards transport costs to access medical male circumcision at participating clinics. On completing VMMC, participants assigned to receive fixed incentives will receive payment through mobile payments. In two sites a community-led intervention will also be implemented to address social obstacles and to increase support from peers, families and social structures.

BEHAVIORAL

Education session with lottery incentive

All participants will receive an education session on the risk of HIV infection and benefits from medical male circumcision. The sessions will be implemented by trained male healthcare workers who have undergone VMMC. All participants will receive contributions towards transport costs to access medical male circumcision at participating clinics. On completing VMMC, participants will participate in a lottery with prizes equivalent in expected value to the fixed incentives. In two sites a community-led intervention will also be implemented to address social obstacles and to increase support from peers, families and social structures.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Biomedical Research and Training Institute, Zimbabwe

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Copenhagen

  collaborator OTHER

• London School of Economics and Political Science

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Simon Gregson

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Simon Gregson, PhD · Imperial College London

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

29 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-07-07

Primary Completion

2021-01-30

Completion

2021-01-30

Countries

• Zimbabwe

Study Locations