Building on the success of a pilot program training traditional healers to initiate HIV counseling and testing, the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health and the University of Witwatersrand have partnered to expand healer-initiated HIV testing and linkage to care in South Africa.
The study team will conduct a cluster, randomized, controlled trial comparing healer-initiated HIV counseling and testing to the standard of care in rural South Africa by utilizing an existing and trusted resource — traditional healers.
The “Know your Status” project is a collaboration among Vanderbilt, Wits, the South African Department of Health (DoH), and Kukula, the local healer’s organization.
The project is part of Ntirhisano (Working Together), a larger portfolio of work that studies traditional healer integration into the primary health care system.
The study will compare rates of HIV testing in healer-initiated HIV counseling and testing communities versus control communities in a cluster, randomized, controlled trial in 42 clinical catchment areas.