Improving Access to HIV Testing for Children in Uganda

Summary

The goal of this study is to learn if HIV screening testing can be done for children ages 18 months to 5 years by traditional healers in Southwestern Uganda. The main questions the investigators aim to answer are:

* Will caretakers of children coming to a traditional healer for their care accept an HIV test from them?
* What views of HIV such as stigma and knowledge might affect the caretaker's choice to accept HIV testing or not for their child? Researchers will compare how many caretakers accept HIV testing for their child by a traditional healer compared to how many accept and go for testing at a nearby health center after being referred by a healer.

Participants will:

* Complete a form with the child's health history and past medical history
* Complete surveys on knowledge and understanding of HIV and stigma
* Decide to to have a rapid, oral swab test the child-participant for HIV
* Complete a follow up call once per month for 3 months to see if the child-participant went for follow up care for those in the referral group or for those who tested positive by the traditional healer

Conditions

• HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

HIV saliva swab screening test

A screening swab test that can be self-administered and is commercially availble for HIV

OTHER

Referral for HIV testing

Referral by a traditonal healer to a health center for HIV testing

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Mbarara University of Science and Technology

  collaborator OTHER

• Cornell University/Weill Cornell Medical Center

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of California, San Francisco

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Anneka Hooft, MD, MPH · University of California, San Francisco

• Radhika Sundararajan, MD, PhD · Weill Cornell School of Medicine

• Denis Nansera, MD · Mbarara University of Science and Technology

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Months

Max Age

5 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-01-19

Primary Completion

2026-08-01

Completion

2026-08-01

Countries

• Uganda

Study Locations