Abstract
Research component of the ATLAS programmeThe ATLAS programme (2019-2021) aims to promote and deploy HIV self-testing (HIVST) in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Senegal and to distribute half a million HIVST through various delivery channels, targeting in particular key populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men, drug users), partners of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and patients with sexually transmitted infections. The dispensation of HIVST will be carried out in routine care, through the three countries' national AIDS strategies and in an integrated manner with existing screening policies, through eight delivery channels combining fixed and advanced strategies, primary distribution and secondary distribution. The research component presented here includes a set of observational surveys to describe, analyze and understand the social, health, epidemiological and economic effects of the introduction of HIVST in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Senegal to improve testing offer (accessibility, effectiveness and ethics). It is organized into 5 work packages: (i) a qualitative survey on HIVST targeted key populations, based on qualitative individual and group interviews with key implementers, members of key population communities and HIVST users; (ii) an ethnography on the integration of HIVST for screening of PLHIV’s partners in three HIV care clinics and an exploratory sub-survey on HIVST distribution in STI consultations; (iii) an anonymous telephone survey of HIVST users recruited through an invitation on HIVST kits to call a toll-free number; (iv) an economic survey of HIVST incremental costs with cost collections from a sample of HIVST dispensing sites and a time and motion study; (v) an epidemiological modelling (dynamic compartmental model) of the three countries and of the health and economic impacts of different scaling scenarios.