The impact of financial incentives on HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women in Eswatini: Sitakhela Likusasa, a cluster randomised trial.

Introduction: Incentives conditional on school attendance or on remaining free of sexually transmitted infections have produced mixed results in reducing HIV incidence.

Methods: HIV-negative adolescent girls and young women aged 15-22%-50% of whom were out of school-were recruited from 293 clusters in Eswatini from urban (30%) and rural areas (70%).Financial incentives conditional on education attendance were randomly allocated at the cluster level.

HIV incidence, viremia, and the national response in Eswatini: Two sequential population-based surveys.

With the highest HIV incidence and prevalence globally, the government of Eswatini started a substantial scale-up of HIV treatment and prevention services in 2011. Two sequential large population-based surveys were conducted before and after service expansion to assess the impact of the national response. Cross-sectional, household-based, nationally representative samples of adults, ages 18 to 49 years, were sampled in 2011 and 2016.

Evaluating the effectiveness of incentives to improve HIV prevention outcomes for young females in Eswatini: Sitakhela Likusasa impact evaluation protocol and baseline results.

Background: Eswatini continues to have the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, and one of the highest HIV incidences among adult populations (aged 15-49). This analysis reports on both key elements of study design/protocol and baseline results from an impact evaluation of an intervention incentivizing (i) initiation, enrolment, attendance or completion of some form of education, and (ii) lower risk sexual behaviour.

Methods: The impact evaluation employs a two by two factorial design in which participants are enrolled in either the incentive for education arm ('education treatment arm' providing a conditional cash incentive) or the control arm ('education control arm').

Mixed results: the protective role of schooling in the HIV epidemic in Swaziland.

Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence in the world. It is recognised that young women, especially adolescents, are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and bear a disproportionate burden of HIV incidence. The HIV data from Swaziland show the location of the epidemic, which is particularly high among adolescent girls and young women.