Community-based Venues for Delivery of Healthcare Services: Proof of Concept Pilot

Conditions

Contraceptive Usage, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, STI

Brief summary

The investigators propose to offer a package of evidence-based health services to women in two hair salons in the Umlazi township of Durban. Based on community feedback in previous survey and qualitative work, the package has been designed to include daily PrEP, family planning/contraceptives, and STI screening. Interested salon clients at intervention salons will elect which services to use. An additional salon will serve as control, offering no health services to clients. Surveys will be conducted in both salon groups. Attendance at follow-up visits for monitoring and medication refill will be encouraged using text message reminders, WhatsApp support groups, and lottery-based incentives for free salon services. Recruitment in intervention salons will conclude when 100 clients uptake PrEP, not inclusive of clients who enroll at intervention salons who accept other services through the study. Approximately 250 participants will be recruited in control salons. The study team anticipates an overall total enrollment of 500.

LS Johnson, LM Ngcobo, A Khumalo, P-G Zwane, S Shezi et al. (10 authors)

BMC Women s Health2026-09-17

10.1186/s12905-026-04872-7

Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Integrated With HIV Prevention and Contraceptive Services in Hair Salons in Urban South Africa

Jana Jarolimova, Joyce Yan, Sabina Govere, Sthabile Shezi, Lungile M. Ngcobo et al. (10 authors)

JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes2025-04-072 citations

10.1097/qai.0000000000003677

A pilot cluster randomized controlled trial assessing uptake of PrEP and contraception in hair salons in South Africa.

Bassett IV, Yan J, Govere S, Shezi S, Ngcobo LM, Sagar S, Jarolimova J, Zionts D, Khumalo A, Zwane Z, Psaros C, Dube N, Parker RA.

2025-02-082 citations

10.1186/s12889-025-21718-3

Uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and contraception in South African hair salons: a study protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial

Sabina Govere, Jana Jarolimova, Joyce Yan, Sthabile Shezi, Lungile M. Ngcobo et al. (11 authors)

BMJ Open2024-12-012 citations

10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083621

Interventions

BEHAVIORALProvision of sexual health preventative services in the salon setting

Participants at intervention salons will be offered a choice of receiving daily PrEP and/or contraceptives (oral and injectables). Participants that elect to receive at least PrEP or contraceptives will also be offered STI testing. Follow-up visits will be planned for 3, 6, 9, and 12-months. Attendance at follow-up visits for monitoring and medication refill will be encouraged using text message reminders, WhatsApp support groups, and lottery-based incentives for free salon services.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

FEMALE

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Female * 18 years or older * English or Zulu speaking * Able and willing to consent

Exclusion criteria

* Symptoms of acute HIV viral syndrome * Known pregnancy at baseline

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Uptake of Preventative Sexual Health Services	Months 4 to 16	We will measure uptake of the intervention as the proportion of eligible women who agree to salon-based contraception (first-time users and new users) and separately to salon-based PrEP.

Countries

South Africa

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORIngrid V. Bassett, MD, MPH

Massachusetts General Hospital

Outcome results

None listed