Interventions for reaching men to improve HIV Testing Services in sub-Saharan Africa: A narrative review.

BACKGROUND

The HIV Testing Services (HTS) are a vital component of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention initiatives, and the essential first step to healthcare. Men in South Africa have been shown to test for HIV at a lower rate than women, with a resulting higher mortality rate.

AIM: This narrative review aimed to describe the approaches used to improve the uptake of HTS by men both at the facility and community level in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

METHOD: Online databases were used to search for relevant studies published from 2019 to 2024 in English. A total of 475 records were identified, with 426 being included after duplicates were removed. After reviewing the abstracts, only 13 studies were included in the review.

RESULTS

This findings revealed three themes and seven sub-themes related to improving HTS uptake: improved access to testing (HIV self-testing, community-based testing and workplace testing), motivation and support (stakeholder involvement and creating a demand for testing) and health facility services (facility-based testing and services provided by male healthcare workers).

CONCLUSION

The limited number of studies highlights the need for more research into developing and testing interventions to encourage men to utilise HTS. A multipronged approach that includes various role-players can be beneficial. This needs to be supported by continuous demand creation utilising platforms such as social media, radio and local newspapers.Contribution: The study collates the interventions intended to encourage men to undertake HTS in SSA.