Tools- of Changes

Home Counseling Visits Increase HIV Testing for Couples, Viral Suppression for Mothers in Kenya

A home-based counseling program for pregnant women and their male partners increased couples HIV testing and helped mothers living with HIV achieve viral suppression.

The authors recruited and randomly assigned 800 couples to the home visit group, HIV self-test group, or standard care group. Two-thirds of couples included a woman living with HIV. Home counseling visits more than quadrupled joint HIV testing rates compared with standard clinic-based care. By 12 months postpartum, 56% of couples receiving home visits had tested together, while only 13.6% of those who received routine services at a health facility tested jointly for HIV. One of the study's most significant findings was improved viral suppression—an outcome closely tied to infant health—among mothers living with HIV in the home-visit group compared with those receiving standard care.