Direct and Spillover Impacts of a Community-Level HIV/AIDS Program

Summary

The HIV/AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa has left millions of children orphaned. These children, who are potentially infected with HIV themselves, are highly vulnerable and face some serious risks to their health and overall well-being.

A variety of health and economic interventions to help orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) (and the households in which they live) are being carried out in Mozambique by World Education Inc./Bantwana (WEI/B), funded by USAID. The program is known in Portuguese as Força à Comunidade e Crianças or FCC (in English, "Strengthening Family and Communities").

This study will collect survey and administrative data to assess the impact of the FCC program on OVCs and the households in which they live. A baseline survey was administered to define a sample of households and individuals to follow over time through the upcoming follow-up survey and to measure baseline household characteristics.

Follow-up data collection will begin in March 2019. It has several components:

1. Household survey The follow-up survey will provide measurements of the rich set of intermediate and final outcomes for the estimation of treatment effects of the FCC program.
2. Data collection on HIV testing and school attendance This study will supplement survey-reported HIV testing rates with an objective, administrative measure of HIV testing at health clinics. At the time of the follow-up survey, the survey team will recommend that eligible individuals in the household be tested for HIV at a specified local health clinic. To allow tracking of those who follow through with testing, consenting individuals will be given coupons redeemable for a small financial incentive once they have completed an HIV test.

In addition to self-reported data on school participation by children, this study will also measure school participation directly. Both school enrollment (presence in school registration records) and school attendance (physical presence of children in school during unannounced school visits by research staff) will be measured. Project staff will visit schools in study communities to check attendance rates of specific school-aged children who were listed in the baseline survey in their community.
3. Informational treatments aimed at raising HIV testing rates To allow insight into the mechanisms through which the FCC program has its effects, this study will provide additional simple treatments in the context of the follow-up survey to explore possible FCC mechanisms: stigma reduction, HIV/AIDS information, and HIV treatment (antiretroviral therapy, or ART) information.

Conditions

• HIV/AIDS

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

FCC (Força à Comunidade e Crianças) program- direct beneficiary

Households are directly linked to the FCC implementing organization

BEHAVIORAL

FCC (Força à Comunidade e Crianças) program- non-direct beneficiary

Households live in FCC implementing communities but are not directly linked to the FCC implementing organization

BEHAVIORAL

Anti Stigma Information

Adults in the households are provided anti-stigma information

BEHAVIORAL

HIV/AIDS Information

The households receive information about HIV infection and AIDS

BEHAVIORAL

ART Information

The households receive information about antiretroviral therapy.

BEHAVIORAL

HIV/AIDS and ART Information Combined

The households receive both information about HIV/AIDS and information about antiretroviral therapy.

BEHAVIORAL

High coupon value

The HIV testing coupons distributed to households in this group have higher values.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Michigan

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-01-01

Primary Completion

2021-03-31

Completion

2021-06-30

Countries

• Mozambique

Study Locations