Trial results investigating male partner engagement in HIV testing were posted on ClinicalTrials.gov on 2026-04-17. The study, which enrolled 200 participants, found that adding an oral HIV self-test kit to a partner notification slip did not significantly improve clinic reporting rates among male partners.
Background
HIV testing uptake among male partners of pregnant women remains low, despite the importance of identifying and treating HIV infections to prevent transmission and improve health outcomes. The antenatal care setting offers a potential avenue to reach male partners, as HIV testing for women is nearly universal in this context. HIV self-testing (HIVST) has emerged as a strategy to facilitate testing outside of traditional healthcare facilities, allowing individuals to perform tests privately and interpret results at home.
Trial design
This completed study, which did not specify a phase (NA), enrolled 200 participants to evaluate methods for engaging male partners in HIV testing. The trial focused on individuals with HIV Infections. It compared two approaches: providing a 'Partner Notification Slip Only' versus providing a 'Partner Notification Slip Plus HIV Self-test Kit' to male partners of pregnant women, with the goal of assessing their impact on clinic reporting.
Key results
The study's key measurements focused on the proportion of male partners who reported to the clinic and the time taken to do so.
- For the outcome 'Proportion of Male Partners Who Reported to Clinic':
- In the 'Partner Notification Slip Only' group, the proportion was 0.38.
- In the 'Partner Notification Slip Plus HIV Self-test Kit' group, the proportion was 0.32.
- For the outcome 'Time Taken for Male Partners to Report to Clinic':
- In the 'Partner Notification Slip Only' group, the median time was 7 days.
- In the 'Partner Notification Slip Plus HIV Self-test Kit' group, the median time was also 7 days.
Key analyses showed a difference in proportions of -0.06 between the two groups, with a 95.0% Confidence Interval ranging from -0.19 to 0.07. The Wilcoxon (Mann-Whitney) p-value for the time taken for male partners to report to clinic was 0.169.
What this means
The results suggest that providing an oral HIV self-test kit alongside a partner notification slip did not significantly increase the proportion of male partners who reported to the clinic. The observed difference in proportions of -0.06, with the self-test kit group showing a slightly lower reporting rate, was not statistically significant, as indicated by the 95.0% confidence interval spanning from -0.19 to 0.07, which includes zero. Similarly, the median time for male partners to report to the clinic remained consistent at 7 days for both groups, with a p-value of 0.169, further supporting the lack of a significant impact from the self-test kit on reporting time. This indicates that, in this study population, the addition of a self-test kit did not enhance engagement in clinic-based HIV testing for male partners.
Source
The information for this update was sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public registry of clinical studies. The trial results for study NCT07488221, titled 'Male Partner Engagement in HIV Testing Using Partner-notification Slip Plus Oral HIV Self-testing Kit', were posted on 2026-04-17 on clinicaltrials.gov.