The effects of home-based HIV counseling and testing on HIV/AIDS stigma among individuals and community leaders in western Kenya: Evidence from a cluster-randomized trial1

Abstract

HIV counseling and testing services2 play an important role in HIV treatment and prevention efforts in developing countries. Community-wide testing campaigns to detect HIV earlier may additionally impact community knowledge and beliefs about HIV. We conducted a cluster-randomized evaluation of a home-based HIV testing campaign in western Kenya and evaluated the effects of the campaign on community leaders’ and members’ stigma toward people living with HIV/AIDS. We find that this type of large-scale HIV testing can be implemented successfully in the presence of stigma, perhaps due to its ‘‘whole community’’ approach. The homebased HIV testing intervention resulted in community leaders reporting lower levels of stigma. However, stigma among community members reacted in mixed ways, and there is little evidence that the program affected beliefs about HIV prevalence and prevention