Trial results for "Le Kip Kip," a campaign to change social norms and build sustainable demand for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among women in South Africa, were posted on ClinicalTrials.gov on 2025-07-30. The study, which enrolled 601 participants, investigated various social media and community engagement strategies to promote PrEP uptake.

Background

Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a critical tool in preventing HIV infections, particularly in high-prevalence regions like South Africa. Despite its effectiveness, challenges remain in achieving widespread uptake and consistent use, especially among young women who are disproportionately affected by HIV. Social norms and awareness play a significant role in PrEP initiation and persistence. Interventions that leverage social media and community engagement are explored as potential strategies to increase demand for PrEP and foster a supportive environment for its use.

Trial design

This completed study, designated as Phase NA, enrolled 601 participants in a short duration cluster randomized trial (CRT) in South Africa. The trial investigated strategies to promote Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) use and influence community norms around PrEP, targeting HIV Infections prevention. The study compared a "Standard of Care" arm against several intervention arms: "Enhanced Social Media Campaign", "Enhanced Social Media Campaign + PrEP Champions", "Enhanced Social Media Campaign + Community Mobilization", and "Enhanced Social Media Campaign + PrEP Champions + Community Mobilization". The intervention involved analyzing PrEP initiation and retention data from TB HIV Care, a non-profit organization providing PrEP to marginalized young women.

Key results

The trial reported several key measurements related to PrEP uptake and persistence:

A regression analysis (Poisson method) comparing PrEP initiations at the district level reported an Incidence rate ratio of 1.21 (95% Confidence Interval: 0.44 to 3.31), with a p-value of 0.707.

What this means

The posted results indicate that the "Le Kip Kip" social media campaign and community engagement activities had a mixed impact on PrEP uptake and persistence. While the campaign generated significant social media engagement with 52608 visits to its Facebook page and was found acceptable by 137 survey respondents, the statistical analysis comparing PrEP initiations at the district level showed no significant difference, with an incidence rate ratio of 1.21 (95% CI: 0.44 to 3.31) and a p-value of 0.707. Furthermore, PrEP persistence rates at both 1-month and 4-months were notably lower in the combined intervention group (27.60% and 15.56% respectively) compared to the standard of care group (42.88% and 29.48% respectively). These findings suggest that while such campaigns can foster engagement, their direct impact on increasing PrEP initiation and, crucially, maintaining persistence, may require further refinement or different approaches.

Source

The information regarding these trial results was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public database of clinical studies. The results for the study NCT05417620, titled "Le Kip Kip: A Campaign to Change Social Norms and Build Sustainable Demand for PrEP Among Women in South Africa", were posted on 2025-07-30 on clinicaltrials.gov.