Title

Using multi-channel demand creation to address awareness as a barrier to the uptake of HIV self-testing (HIVST) kit in the private sector

Presenter

Dennis Aizobu

Authors

D. Aizobu¹, S. Malaba², G. Omoregie¹, O. Idogho¹, J. Anyanti¹, B. Adesina¹, D. Ukaga¹, O. Akpabio³, O. Abu¹, N. Nnannah¹

Institutions

¹Society for Family Health, Abuja, Nigeria, ²Population Services International, Nairobi, Kenya, ³Society for Family Health, Lagos, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Despite the introduction of HIVST as one of the HTS strategies, uptake in the private sector has been very limited. This low uptake from the Strengthening HIV self-testing in the private sector (SHIPS) market research report is attributed to several barriers which includes lack of awareness from the clients on their availability in community pharmacies or patent medicine vendors. The low awareness remains a huge challenge to the private sector stocking HIVST kits.This pilot implementation is demonstrating the impact of a multichannel demand creation aimed at reaching different segments of the population.
DESCRIPTION: SHIPS is currently implementing a fifteen (15) months demand creation campaign through community mobilization, community activation as well as social media. Using community mobilization and community activation, the project is improving awareness about and uptake of HIVST using one-on-one and group approaches as well as road shows to reached individuals in selected communities in Lagos and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Furthermore, utilizing the popularity of social media, effective messaging was curated on social media.
LESSONS LEARNED: Within (9) months (April to December 2022), the traditional demand creation campaign reached 34,206 and 20928 during community mobilization and community activation respectively within the pilot communities. While on social media 638,437 individuals were reached on Instagram, Facebook and twitter using sponsored ads, influencer marketing and content creation. Additionally, the increase in awareness catalyzed an increase uptake of HIVST kit in the private sector from an initial baseline sale of about 152 HIVST kit in 3 months to a total sale of 7317 HIVST kits in 9 months indicating a 4711.84% increase.
CONCLUSIONS: Implementing multi-channel demand creation activities to target different segments of the population will help break the barrier on low awareness on the availability of HIVST kits in the private sector thereby resulting in increasing number of providers stocking HIVST kits and uptake from clients.

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