Project SOAR: A community-based health support (CBHS) intervention to support antiretroviral therapy (ART) retention in Tanzania

Description/Activities:  This randomized control trial recruited ~1,000 people (43% men) to receive a CBHS intervention (monthly support groups and community delivery of ART) at 10 sites in Tanzania (across 4 regions). We compared outcome results to ~1,000 people receiving the standard of care at 10 matched sites in the same regions. The intervention was implemented for over a 12-month period, and HIV outcome measures were compared.

What Makes the Intervention Unique/Different:   Tanzania was not implementing community-based HIV programming due to a lack of local evidence to show that community-based support interventions did not compromise patient health through clinic-based care. This activity showed that (1) this intervention was feasible and acceptable for use by men, (2) men were retained on ART as much as women, and (3) more men were retained on ART at 12 months in the intervention group, than in the control group

Impact Data:    Men in the intervention group were significantly more likely than men in the control group to be retained on ART at 6 months (84% vs. 70%) and 12 months (70% vs 61%).

Reference/Website:   http://www.projsoar.org/our-activities/tz-cmty-art/